Visions in Starlight
by Lady Viola Delesseps
Summary: "I only... I want you so much. I want to be allowed to love you." Tauriel made no response to this, but instead stood, saying, "I need time to think." Kili's eyes were smiling. "At least it's not a no." "This is forbidden." "So are a lot of things..." It has been attempted before, with dreadful results. Can love thrive between an elf and a dwarf? And what of the consequences?
1. Chapter 1

Tauriel sat numbly, her mind in a fog and her gaze blurred. These were feelings she had never experienced before. Her mind was normally sharp and focused, no room for musing or slipping into memory, her eyesight keen and missing nothing. But the tightness in her head and the overwhelming feeling of a great weight pressing down on her from all sides reduced her movements to slow efforts and her thoughts to trickling fantasies... If only she knew what to do.

_"You must be waiting for me." The voice, familiar, though she had only heard it a few times outside of the queer distortion that the cell gave his words, made Tauriel look up quickly, and set aside the fibres she was deftly weaving into a new bowstring. It would be ruined now, but it was no great effort to begin again. She was sitting on the bench outside the king's'counsel chamber and biding her time until he summoned her to give the weekly report of the borders. _

_"No, I am not," she replied evenly, cautious not to give her voice too much welcome. "Though you may be flattering yourself." _

_Kili laughed lightly, and made his way across the court to take his seat beside her. She stiffened._

_"You are far from a guest here, master dwarf," she found herself saying, "We have only let you out because you are the last here and barely escaped death from your wounds."_

_"You think I don't know that?" His merry words was in danger of being overheard, and Tauriel snapped, "Lower your voice."_

_"We couldn't nave anyone thinking that we're on friendly terms," Kili whispered dangerously, his eyes wide with mock caution. "That would be terrible."  
>"You don't understand." Tauriel once again set to weaving the strong strands together, her eyes carefully watching as they were deftly joined by the magic of her skilled fingers. "Your healing was merely out of mercy. I did not wish you to die." Too late she realized what she had said. "I – we... did not wish you to die," she muttered, as hasty, yet ill-believed amends.<em>

Standing, and crossing the room, Tauriel felt a sudden wave of dizziness wash over her, and she was only vaguely aware of her wrists feeling cold shock as they broke her fall. Lifting her head, she peered from beneath the curtain of her hair and saw the tilting floor before her. Oh, Elbereth. Her mouth was both dry and damp at the same time, and thin, cold saliva seemed to rise from her throat and fill her mouth, running between her clenched teeth and seeping through her lips, closed though they were, against the assault of weakness. She tried to lean back, to ease herself into a sitting position instead of creeping like an infant on all fours, but the disorienting effort was too much, and so she lifted her arms to propel herself forward, the heels of her hands banging along the ground as her knees followed, pulling herself toward the delicate basin in the corner of the room.

Graceless, she collapsed against the wall, her legs splayed out behind her, her forehead against the carved stone as her body convulsed and she spit out a small amount of acidic fluid. Her own breathing was loud in her ears, and her shoulders ached with the effort of holding herself upright. Resisting the urge to give into the blackness that hovered around the corners of her vision, Tauriel was only vaguely aware of a quiet exclamation and booted footsteps hurrying across the floor.

_"You – you healed me?" Kili stared. "I did not know," he added in a small voice, a smile playing over his mouth, and his efforts to hide it not succeeding. "Did you have something to do with my clothing being lost?"_

_"There was too much blood. It had to be removed and discarded. This robe is much more suitable."  
>"Did you undress me yourself?" His eager brown eyes sought hers and Tauriel looked quickly away, making her distaste apparent.<em>

_"I am no healer, but I have undressed many of my warriors to attend to their wounds."_

_"Did you like what you saw?"_

_Tauriel never failed to be shocked at his boldness. "I never like the sight of blood," she replied evenly, taking a deep breath. Reaching the end of her fibres, she leant down briefly to place the ends firmly beneath the toe of her boot, before straightening, pulling the newly woven string taut, and tying the end in a skillful loop. _

_"I can hardly move in this thing; I don't know how," Kili complained, tweaking the fine fabric that draped his short frame. _

_"All you do is walk forward," Tauriel replied blandly, tying off the other end of the bowstring and running her fingers along it's firm strong length. Kili watched her closely. _

_"You're good," he said at last. _

_She intended to regard him briefly, but his gaze magnetised her own and held her in thrall. _

_"Thank you," she said, though his eyes poured feeling into her until she felt she could do nothing but break their gaze to preserve her consciousness._

_"Did I offend you?" he asked. "I only... I want you so much. I want to be allowed to love you."_

_Tauriel made no response, but stood ,a bit feebly. "I need time to think."  
>"At least it's not a no."<em>

_"This is forbidden."_

_"So are a lot of things."_

Legolas knelt beside Tauriel's deflated form, and put a warm arm around her shoulder.

"Please – don't –" she managed, weakly pulling away from him. "It's nothing..."  
>"Let me help you, <em>mellon<em>," Legolas said gently, pushing her dampened hair back from her pale brow. "You are unwell."

"It will pass, it always does." Her voice was light, and she began to say more, but her body was wracked with another convulsion and she choked, disgorging nothing into the bowl.

"Always?" Legolas's brow furrowed as Tauriel leaned back against him, her form comfortably heavy in his strong arms. "This has happened before?"  
>"For about a week now," she said thickly, sighing, and shutting her eyes. "Forgive me. You should not be here –"<p>

"Nonsense. Have you spoken to a healer? They would be able to tell you what ails you." Illness was almost a nonexistent thing for an elf, and as such Tauriel knew the cause. She just did not expect the violence of the symptoms, or the immediacy of their effect.

"I know what it is," she said, her head lolling back and to the side, but then jerking upwards as she made an effort to hold it up. Legolas placed a gentle hand on her brow and leaned it back until it rested in the crook of his elbow, and situated himself until they were leaning their backs against the wall. "There's no need."

"Tell me," Legolas said. "You know I can tell my father that you need to – "

"I can still go on the patrol," Tauriel said, her voice surprisingly firm. "I must, and I am strong enough to push through this."

"This is most unexpected, since you are not –"  
>"Please. Just let me rest for a moment."<p>

"Alright." They sat in silence for a moment, the thudding of his heart a comforting feeling against the back of her shoulder, and Tauriel gave a large sigh. Leaning forward, she gave her friend a brief smile, before slowly getting to her feet. He watched as she wavered for a brief moment, and then stood steady. "I must be a mess," she murmured, crossing the room and beginning to fasten on her cuirass and pull a comb through her tangled hair.

"Tauriel –" The prince of Mirkwood got to his feet, and smiled softly at her. "You know you can tell me."

Her eyes were strangely sad. "I know. But not this time, my friend. I thank you for your kindness."


	2. Chapter 2

_It was not so much the darkness of the room that gave it a criminal feel, but the lateness of the hour, the fact that the dwarf was just barely healed enough from his wounds to walk about, and the fact that she, the captain of the guard, was in a room alone with him. She had followed him there after a long conversation about his brother and uncle, and the thoughts that they both had about elves, and Tauriel had idly walked along with him until, before she knew it, she was in his chamber, and he was regarding her with a burning gaze._

_"I should be going," she said, and even in her own ears it sounded pathetically half-hearted. She did not want to. What she did want, she feared to visualize. Before she was aware of what she was doing, Tauriel had quickly crossed the room and taken his face between her hand, bestowing on his head a gentle kiss. His breath caught in his throat, and she could feel it on her face before she hastily pulled away, intending to beat a silent retreat. His grip on her arm prevented her, and his insistent pull brought her back close to him. _

_"Stay," he said, and the single word seemed to posses great power over her. Running a shaking hand over his rough brown hair, Tauriel felt a tremor begin somewhere deep inside her and continue, spreading in slow throbs to other parts of her body, and in a daze, she allowed him to pull her into an embrace that left her half-lying by his side on the bed. Instinct took over, something she had not thought to ever experience, and tipping her face toward him, ghosted a tender kiss on his temple. This ran thrills through his body as he crept his broad hands around her waist and beneath her hand the skin on his neck seemed to flare up with the sudden heat of dragon fire. _

_"You're so hot," she murmured, the strangeness of it creeping over her. "Are you uncomfortable?"_

_"On the contrary," he replied, and with a strength surprising for his size, Kili gave a powerful tug of her waist and she was on her back beneath him, looking up into his face, veiled in shadows and the locks of his hair. _

Stepping forth from her chamber and striding briskly down the hall as if to make up for lost time, Tauriel felt incredibly conspicuous to all who regarded her, when in point of actual fact, few even turned at her passing. Kili left two weeks before, having been sufficiently healed of his wounds, and deciding, despite his love, that Thorin and the reclaiming of Erebor deserved his commitment. And so he had departed, but not before promising to return. Tauriel tried not to think on it too much. Never had she loved another individual as she loved this dwarf, but as she told him on his departure, she would not believe such a foolish promise. He had looked afronted, and asked if she thought him a liar. "You cannot control the path of an arrow," she had replied simply, and with that had left him.

That was her last memory of him. His last was the final night they had spent together under the stats, in trying to catch up to the hasty departure of Fili and Thorin. They no doubt thought they were making things easier for him by leaving by night so that he would not have to tell them of his decision to stay with his elf. They had underestimated his loyalty. A dream plagued his sleep that night, a dream that he had returned and Tauriel had wed the prince, that blond-haired fellow. They seemed happy, with no room for him. And then, in the strangeness that often accompanies such dreams, he seemed to look upon himself, as if he were someone else, but the version he looked upon was very young. Either that, or it was someone who looked just like him.

Tauriel had questioned him about this, and seemed strangely disturbed by it. "What did you look like when you were young?" she had asked, irrelevantly, it seemed. " I don't know. Just brown-haired... and _little._" And she had known. She had known that night they spent together. For elves such encounters were rarely without results. Only later did she find out that to dwarves, it was often only after many years of a committed relationship that such things occurred. She marveled at how that was possible, especially considering the vigor with which he had loved her, vigor which almost sent her over the edge into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

_A delightful shudder ran through her as he began to shed his outer clothing, revealing his stocky frame to be well-muscled and burning with intent. She reached up a gentle hand and lightly stroked it along his cheek, finally finding it's home on the back of his heated neck and intertwining her fingers in his hair. To her, love was tender touches and gentle caresses, and so she was showing him in the only way an elf knew how. He gasped at her light touch, and seemed to find himself in the very throes of ecstasy at her nearness. He and his brother had often roughhoused together, having shared a room and a bed since they were children, and once it had even turned into a very near encounter, but it was with a feisty roughness and the heat of passion that was so typical of dwarven affection. This was so beautiful. So light, so airy, and yet so full of meaning. He feared hurting her, and yet could not contain himself. _

_Lowering his head, he buried his face in her neck, kissing her noisily, and gathering her entire form into his arms, gripping her tightly and pressing her ever nearer to him. Tauriel let out a stuttering breath, as he dragged his hands down her form, and began to loosen her clothing. His breathing was loud in her ears, his weight pressing down on her as his touch grew heavier with intent. Fear coursed through her veins hand-in-hand with rapture, but she found her arm up in front of her chest, gently pushing him away._

_"Kili," she breathed, her voice not her own._

_"What is it?" His brow furrowed, his chest still heaving from his interrupted excitement._

_"I – I don't know what to do. I don't know what you are doing."_

_"Loving you." He pressed his mouth to her's for the first time, and Tauriel inhaled through her nose, feeling his breath on her face as his lips joined to hers, fleshy, with a hint of teeth behind. When they broke the kiss Tauriel had a formed sentence in her mind._

_"Our love is very different from yours," she said quietly, even as she stroked his hair away from his brow, and regarded him with eyes foggy with euphoria. _

_"Do you not like it?" His voice raised ever so slightly, the rumble of his vocal chords being used at last ragged and fraying on the breath of his whispers. _

_There was a long silence, before she replied. "I do" and the door was opened for his love to overwhelm her. _


	3. Chapter 3

It was two weeks after Tauriel's illness upon which Legolas had stumbled, and though she did not always feel her best, exhaustion overcoming her at the slightest of exertions, Tauriel was managing to conduct her duties as Captain of the Guard nearly with full energy. But this morning she had a particularly hard time overcoming the weakness and the constant churning of her stomach, and was hurrying that she should not be in trouble.

"Tauriel, you are late," Legolas greeted, his light eyes regarding her with just a hint of amusement.

"I apologize, my lord. I had pressing matters to attend to this morning, but nothing over which you should be concerned." Her eyes smiled back at him, the code obvious.

"We were just discussing the amount of warriors we should send to the Lonely Mountain. A great force is amassing there, and that can either mean we should turn out in equal numbers, or that we should use caution, lest all of our best men be slain."

"We should not be fighting with those with whom we have no quarrel," Tauriel said quietly, the sudden image flooding her mind of Kili falling, pierced by an elven shaft.

"Your loyalty should not waver with your strength" Legolas said quietly. "We do what must be done."  
>"Of course," she replied, turning and looking across the room for a brief moment to recollect herself. <em>What was she saying.<em> Legolas knew of her kindness toward the youngest of the dwarf prisoners. But he need not know more. Just as she did not delight in spending her days slaying spiders and hordes of orc, she would apply herself with diligence to whatever the king assigned her, in the hopes that she could continue in her command without arousing suspicion for as long as possible.

The end of their meeting came quickly, a decision reached. Tauriel prepared to depart, having an overdue patrol to execute, but Legolas stopped her.

"Tauriel, may I speak to you?"

_The morning came, too soon for either of them, realization washing over the pair with a mixture of pain and pleasure. _

_"Do you have any idea what we are going to do?" Tauriel found herself asking, her hand idly going to and fro over his rumpled head, the smell of his sweat and love-laden breath filling her nostrils as she inhaled deeply._

_"Do?" His voice was childish with sleepiness, and he rolled over, burying his face in her side, giving a small groan. "Don't make me think critically. Not now. I'm still so happy."_

_Smiling, Tauriel resisted the urge to press the matter, and instead gave him a slight poke in the ribs. He recoiled, his face tight with suppressed laughter. _

_"Hey!"_

_"I wanted to show you that I am not always boring."  
>"I didn't think you were boring..." he mused, playing with the end of one of her long red curls. "But you probably don't want me to tell you what I <em>did _think. It'd embarrass you."_

_"Probably," Tauriel laughed, sobering quickly, and speaking his name. "Kili?"_

_"Hm?"_

_He rolled over, his broad back to her, and scooting down in the bed so that their heads were level with each other, though her legs stretched out below them long past his, Tauriel traced the solid indentations on his back through his thin tunic. _

_"How long do dwarven women carry children?"  
>"Do I look like a dwarven woman? How would I know?"<em>

_"Fili is older than you are?"_

_"Mhm."_

_"So you have no memories that..."_

_"Why are you asking?" His voice wafted up to her ears._

_"I know nothing about dwarves. Do you know your father?" She diverted a bit so that he would not think anything was amiss. But still, surely he must know..._

_"He died when Fili was tiny – just ten, and I was no more than a bun in the oven."_

_She furrowed her brow at this even as she smiled. _

All others having vacated the chamber, Tauriel said without turning, "It is nothing, it is getting better."

"No, it is not that. Though my concern is well-founded, I have not told my father."

She whirled, her eyes bright. "No! Do not tell him."  
>"I have not."<br>"I thank you." She bowed her head.

Legolas gestured for her to follow him and strode across the wide room, standing in an arched alcove that formed one of the few windows in the Woodland King's dark halls. Tauriel followed him, her tunic swishing against her legs, and stopping just within the window, face to face with the prince. He looked at her for a long moment, and at last she looked away.

"Please, don't..." she murmured, but he shook his head.

"No, no –" He broke off. "I know you have feelings for the dwarf. I could remind you that he is gone, that he is likely not coming back –" He stopped short at a fierce look from Tauriel, and rerouted his sentence. "I know we have been friends since childhood, and I am learning to see that that is all we will ever be. I am sorry, but it is growing easier."  
>She nodded. "Good. I hoped that this wasn't –"<p>

He shook his head. "I would not put you in such a position. But I want to help."

Her gaze flashed to his. "With what?"

In a fluid motion, Legolas stepped away from her and into the shadows of the hall, leaving Tauriel's form silhouetted in the window, her body in profile though her head turned to follow his movements. The prince's keen eyes quickly roved her form – the cuirass, fitted through the bodice, undone at the top, her breast rising and falling with her rapid breaths, the swell of her abdomen beneath it's bottom edge, softened under the loose folds of her tunic... Tauriel's shoulders seemed to sag under his scrutiny.

"Don't tell me it's that obvious..." she whispered, her voice small and pleading.

Long strides brought him near to her again, and he looked into her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why would I?" She looked away. "I'm not going to adopt his ways, and talk to anyone about _everything_..."

"I knew you had feelings for each other, but to –" Legolas broke off. "This is why you have been ill. But I – you were much more unwell than I have ever seen a woman..."

"Please." Her voice was small. "I don't know what it means. To carry the child of a dwarf... I am surprised things haven't been worse. I don't even know if it is possible."  
>"Clearly, it is."<p>

"Is it really that apparent?" she asked, turning her face up to his. "I had hoped it would go unnoticed for some while yet." She dropped her voice. "It seems to be progressing so quickly, though. I read that dwarven women carry a child for nearly a year. I – " She broke off, her face pale. "I will continue in my duties as long as I can. You know me quite well, and you were looking for a reason for my illness."  
>"I was not," he said gently. "I simply noticed that you... that your..." He trailed off and shook his head as if to clear it. "I thought I must have been imagining. But it has been growing more noticeable."<p>

Tauriel shut her eyes briefly. "Not everyone has as keen of eyes as you do."

"Not everyone will have as much grace as I do."


	4. Chapter 4

_Kili sat upon the bed, tears fresh upon his face as Fili stood before him, confronting him with his choice. _

_"I – I cannot leave her," he uttered brokenly, perhaps for the third time. Even the view of his brother's torso before his line of vision managed to look sympathetic as Fili put a heavy hand on his little brother's shoulder._

_"We need you. Don't you want to be there when the halls of Erebor are opened? When we meet in victorious battle to defeat the dragon and reclaim our throne?"_

_"Your throne," Kili corrected. "That holds no charm for me. All I ever wanted, I have found here."  
>"You would stay in Mirkwood for the rest of your life?" Fili sounded disbelieving. "I thought you hated it here. You hate the people. You hate the food."<em>

_"I love Tauriel."  
>"Is that her name?"<em>

_Kili looked up, his brown eyes blazing into his brother's blue ones. He lifted his hands suppliantly._

_"Never mind, I didn't know," he said, chuckling. "It is up to you." He began to leave the room, but Kili's voice stopped him._

_"I wanted to prove to Thorin that it was worth it to bring me along. That he would not regret letting me come."_

_There was a long silence, before Fili responded, in a voice infinitely full of pity and understanding, "Then do it."_

"I want to help you," Legolas repeated. "I have not spoken to my father to properly get his permission. But give me your promise so that we can be betrothed."

Tauriel's face registered shock. "I thought –"

The prince held up a hand. "That way, if anyone were to notice, I can take the responsibility. My father will likely kill me, but then at least you are free from blame. If your dwarf returns, I will release you from your obligation."

"And if not?" she whispered.

He looked away. "We will decide when the time comes." Legolas watched the emotions flit across Tauriel's face like shadows cast the from the waving branches of a tree, and took her hand. Her hands were strong, but they felt so small in his. "Give me your promise."

Tauriel struggled for one final moment before letting out a breath and inclining her head. "Very well." When she looked up and met his gaze her eyes glittered with unshed tears.

_Thorin lay flat upon his back, thoughts running through his head so fast that his pulse throbbed behind his eyes and his wrists thrummed where they lay inert upon the bed. He did not know what to do. Kili was young, yes, reckless, yes, but a fool, no. _He_ had been a fool. Years, and another lifetime ago. And he did not want to see his young nephew repeat his mistakes. Hauling himself to his feet, Thorin quietly made preparations to leave the woodland realm once again. _

Legolas met her gaze, steadying her with the strength from his eyes. "Tell me if there is anything I can do to aid you."

"You have already done it, _mellon_," she whispered, looking away. "And for that I thank you."

"Are you feeling well?" His voice was airy, and he seemed to at last refrain from trying to hide his feelings. His father was a master of deviation, but was a very feeling man when one could actually get to know him. The trouble was there were only a few who had ever reached that status. To everyone else he was cold and calculating. And the fact is when an elf such Thranduil has lived over 3,000 years on Middle Earth, he loses interest in how he presents oneself to others.

Legolas reached out to draw Tauriel into his arms, but she shied away. Gently, but firmly, he pulled her into a chaste embrace, sensing, rather than feeling her angle her body away so that her growing womb would not touch him.

"Don't be silly," he murmured, and in response she relaxed, and they enjoyed a warm embrace such as they had not since they were children.

_Tauriel's even breathing filled the room when suddenly the door was burst open and a voice shattered her from her dreams._

_"They are gone!"_

_She sat bolt upright in bed, her hair falling about her shoulders, grasping instinctively for the blade she kept near at hand, but sighed, seeing the short stature of Kili silhouetted in the doorway._

_Her heart still raced as she stood, confronting him. "Who is gone?"_

_"Thorin, and my brother. They are not in their chambers and nowhere about the halls."  
>"Are you certain?" she demanded. "Did you search thoroughly?"<em>

_"I would not have awakened you if I were not sure." He seated himself mindlessly on the bed, and Tauriel let her legs bend beneath her until she sat as well, sudden fatigue overwhelming the initial burst of adrenaline through her veins. She rubbed a light hand over her face._

_"What are you going to do?"_

_"I had just decided to go with them. I was on my way to speak to my uncle when I found him gone."_

_"No doubt he thought he was making the choice easier for you." Tauriel realized she still held her blade in her hands, and replaced it quietly in it's proper place._

_"But he's made it more difficult. What am I going to do?" Kili groaned._

_Tauriel's mind worked quickly. Not for a moment did she intend to use this situation to her advantage._

_"If we leave at first light, we can probably catch them."  
>"We?"<em>

_"I'll travel with you until you are safely in their company." He scowled playfully. "I wouldn't want danger to befall you yet again. Because I will be too busy to come and save you." Her words were light as laughter, but her heart was heavy as sand, sand that clogs the hooves of horses and slows progress, that seeps into every crack and there rubs until the washing of water cleanses the hurt. The washing of water was the tears she vowed not to let fall._

Tauriel walked briskly back to her chamber, the prince's words ringing in her head, the warmth of his embrace lingering on her arms. Before the mirror she stood, and began to unfasten her cuirass. True, she had been wearing the top undone to allow for ease of breathing, constriction of her swelling breast seeming to pose a greater problem than her enlarging stomach. It had not struck her yet what a change had been wrought in her form, at least one that could be noticed through her clothing.

Letting her hand lightly descend down the firm leather covering her torso, Tauriel realized with a shock that her tight belly had begun to protrude most noticeably beneath the armor. It was warm and firm, yet unfamiliar. And as her hand pressed gently to the swell of her stomach, she felt it – a tiny flutter from within her, like someone blowing bubbles in liquid. Her knees were suddenly weak, and she sunk to a sitting position on her bed, realizing as she did so, that Legolas was right. And anyone who looked hard enough would see the truth; that she was with child. She finally drifted off into a fitful sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_They traveled in near silence, Tauriel not trusting herself to say anything without becoming sentimental when she had vowed to help him leave, and Kili fearing to break the silence that he was certain she sustained for a reason. The forest seemed to meld into a path beneath her feet, and Kili was content to follow the twisting forest in her footsteps, trusting her tracking skills to lead them to Thorin and Fili. _

_"Not more than a few hours start. We should catch them soon."_

_Kili seemed surprised when she finally broke the silence. "I am going to miss you," he said quietly, their footfalls steady on the forest floor. He watched her slender back ahead of him, erect and purposeful. And then her hair rippled as she turned her head and said over her shoulder, "And I you." Then they had arrived; greetings were made, explanations provided, and goodbyes were said, all in a brief straightforward manner._

_"Goodbye, Kili. I wish you the best of luck on your quest."_

_"Goodbye, Tauriel. Thank you for everything."_

_It was enough, and yet not enough._

"Tauriel – Tauriel." She opened her eyes to someone bending over her, and gently shaking her shoulder. "You must come. He is here." Pale blonde hair drooped, feathering lightly over her cheek as Tauriel sat up, swallowing the taste of sleep and clearing her throat slightly.

"My lord?"

"The dwarf is here. You should go to him."

"Kili is here? Is he alright?" She flung back the covers and hurriedly pulled on her overtunic and boots, pushing her hair behind her shoulders and straightening to see Legolas standing in silence, the starlight illumining the line between his brows.

"Oh, Elbereth," the breathed, and hurried from the room, the prince on her heels.

_Kili tossed and turned on his bedroll, the chill air about him doing nothing to aid in his attempts at forgetting. Tauriel's nearness that night, and the two others in which he had successfully penetrated her guard and let her be honest with herself in showing her feelings for him were both his most cherished memories and his most haunting past. His passion knew no bounds, he realized this, realized that were she here this night he would be loving her with every fibre of his being, with every once of strength he possessed holding her impossibly close to him, and crushing her closer still as his pulse throbbed in his own ears and the feeling of his own hot breath reflected back to him on her cheeks... He let out a muffled groan as he grew uncomfortable in his clothing at the mere thought._

_"Are you ill or just enjoying keeping us awake?" Thorin's voice came across the dying embers of the campfire between them, and Kili heaved a sigh._

_"I am well."_

_"You must think of what it at hand," Thorin rumbled again, and Kili knew he was right. It was heroism that made him decided to leave, but it was a great amount of will-power that would keep him to his promise. He must fight alongside his kin to reclaim their kingdom, and also stay alive so that he could return to the beautiful Tauriel. Beautiful, and fierce, and bold, and yet, when she lay beneath him, vulnerable in her love, so vanquished, so thrillingly... _his. _He shook off the memories of the dream he'd had on their last night together as foolish, and entered once again the perilous world of dreaming, this time seeming to see bright-hot fire, and high winds. But whether this was the peril of his body or of his heart, he knew not. _

_He awakened to a burning sensation in his throat to find that his mouth had fallen open while he slept, and his lips were dry and chapped, his tongue feeling thick and linty. If Tauriel were here, his mouth would be warmed with a caress softer and moister than his own parched tongue running over his lips, and his tingling mouth filled with a sensation greater than that of cool running water._

Tauriel burst through the doors and took in the sight laid out before her; Fili, the dwarf, battle-worn and weather-beaten, stood across the room, his mouth covered by his hand, armed from head to toe and looking as if he had come straight from the battlefield without looking to the right or left. Thorin Oakenshield, the dwarven king stood by his side, his great mane of black hair matted with sweat and blood, his clothing rent and his armor battered, watching in silence as the slim forms of two elves bent over the figure in the floor, laid out upon a stretch of clean ash-colored tapestry. It was Kili.

With a quiet exclamation that made both other dwarves look up, Tauriel hurried to his side, and knelt beside him, taking one of his inert hands in her, and giving it the slightest of pressure.

"Kili," she breathed.

"The healers have done their work on him; kingsfoil seldom fails, but he will remain weak for some hours before it begins to take effect," Legolas said in reply to her unasked questions. "Our thanks, you may go," he told the other elves, who bowing, retired, but not without curious looks at their Captain of the Guard.

"What happened?" she breathed, looking up at Fili, who turned away, tears threatening to overwhemlm his eyes. Thorin spoke, his voice deep, and husky with exertion.

"He was overcome in the midst of the battle. Fili saw and risked his life to get him to safety back from the fray. As soon as the day was won, he came to me, and begged me to help get him back to Mirkwood, saying that the skill of the elves healed him when he was shot with a Morgul shaft. Somehow, he convinced me," Thorin concluded gruffly, though his icy blue eyes looked shadowed with concern for his youngest nephew's life.

"I don't understand you or your ways, but his life has been saved once again. For that, I give you my thanks," the king under the mountain said at last, as if it took him great difficulty to pronounce the words.

_"Come now – what was it?" Fili pestered, falling in to step beside his brother, keeping an eye on Thorin's sturdy back as he tromped ahead just out of earshot. "A dream?"_

_Kili rolled his eyes. "Not since we left Mirkwood."_

_"You never told me."_

_"It's nothing."  
>"It may have a meaning," Fili insisted. "Did something bad happen?"<em>

_"Yes," Kili replied emphatically. "But something strange, too."_

_"Tell me."_

_Kili too, glanced to see if Thorin seemed to be listening, and as he didn't appear to be absorbed in much except putting one booted foot in front of the other and carrying them closer to where he had left the rest of the company a week ago, he proceeded to tell his brother of his dream: of his love marrying another, and then, hesitantly, of his smaller self running about. Fili suppressed a grin._

_"It's not funny, really," Kili protested, giving his brother a shove. "It troubles me, even now."_

_"Well, let's hope it's not a this-is-what-is-going-to-happen kind of dream," he said. "But the part about a little version of you running around is clear enough, if it has a meaning."  
>"What?" Kili stopped short. "That I am going to shrink?"<em>

_"Don't be an idiot." Fili grinned. "You have a child."_

_Kili gaped for a moment, before choking out a laugh. "Shut up! She's not even our race! That's just –"_

_"Just what?" Fili cocked his head. "It's an idea."  
>"That's impossible. And silly." And Kili broke into a run, pumping his short legs as quickly as he could to catch up to Thorin. Impossible. And silly. He drove the thought from his mind. <em>


	6. Chapter 6

"Thank you for bringing him," Tauriel breathed, her eyes full of gratitude. "You don't know how glad I am to see him, though not like this –" She broke off, and a heavy hand on her shoulder made her look up.

"He told me about you. All of us, really, but I was the only one who placed much stock in it." Fili, the blond dwarf smiled briefly, the skin around his eyes wrinkling pleasantly and giving him a sage aspect though he was still young. His smile was like Kili's.

"Thank you," Tauriel managed, looking on Kili's broken body and blood and grime-smeared face. Taking up the cloth left behind by the healers, she began to gently wipe his face clean, revealing the pallor of the flaccid skin beneath. She worked in silence, and soon, Legolas gravely offered to show Thorin to a room that he might spend the night. Fili refusing and saying he would come later.

As soon as Fili was alone with Tauriel and his brother, he knelt opposite her, and gave her a sad smile. "He spoke of you in his fevered sleep all the journey here. We thought he was not going to make it."

Tauriel nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and wordlessly, the elf and the dwarf worked to unfasten the clothing of the wounded, easing his inert form out of the encumbrances, and lying him at last, bare, upon the sheet. His skin was caked with blood and dirt, and remnants of athelas were still plastered over his hurt which had been accessed through the gashes in his clothing. Fili's gaze flickered to the female's, but she seemed unaffected, merely handing him another cloth. They set to work bathing the limp body of the young dwarf, and Tauriel did not look up until his touch on her shoulder put a stop to her tender cleansing.

"You have a good heart, elf."

She smiled, and continued to gently soften the dried blood that had gathered in the angle of Kili's strong arm, unaware that he was watching her closely. His nearness caused her to stop short as he reached his hand out across his brother's body and placed it on the side of her belly, feeling the fullness of it. Tauriel stiffened, and her gaze flew to his.

"Stop it," she said, shifting away, and returning to her task. "It is a secret."

"It won't be for much longer," Fili said quietly. "You can't have been carrying for that long."

Tauriel did not look up. "Six weeks," she murmured. "I don't know what to think."

Fili nodded soberly. "It would take much longer for a child to show within a dwarven woman. Almost three times as long, actually. But they're much... thicker," he mused. "I remember when my mother with carrying Kili. I would sleep with her after our father was killed and if I hugged her close enough, I could feel him kick. I knew I was going to love him." Fili smiled at the memory.

_Kili could not remember anything after his brother's shout filled his ears. He fell headlong, his fall seeming to last hours until his head finally made contact with the hard ground, sending white pain shooting through his senses, and flashing garish colors before his eyes. He put his hand to his chest and it came away wet and warm. Blackness flickered around the edge of his vision and he felt as if the air of the battlefield were pressing down upon him, smothering him... His brother's face loomed close to his, and a vigorous slapping of his cheeks brought him momentarily back to consciousness and pain. _

_"Kili! Kili, stay with me!" his brother demanded._

_"I –" he began._

_"Shut up, don't talk. I'm getting you out of here," Fili muttered, suddenly standing and whirling to hack at an assailant approaching them from behind. As soon as the elf felt to the ground choking on his own blood, Fili bent and hauled his brother's arm around his neck. A deep groan was wrenched from somewhere deep in Kili's chest. _

_"Stay with me – stay with me..." Fili gasped as he struggled to his feet, half-carrying, half-dragging the younger dwarf. And then there was darkness._

Tauriel's face was still lowered, but he could see her conflicting emotions plain as day. She opened her mouth to speak, but just then Kili stirred, uttering a small sigh and listing his head slightly to one side. Tauriel seized his hand.

"Kili," she whispered. "Kili, it's alright. You're safe. You're in Mirkwood. Just lie quietly." Her voice caught, and he opened his eyes at this, blurry vision clearing until at last his eyes focused on her – beautiful, red-haired, and crying for him.

"Tauriel..." he breathed, giving her hands the slightest of pressures in return. "Wh-" The air caught between his chapped lips, and his chest rose as he tried again. "What happened?"

"You were wounded," Tauriel said gently, drawing a blanket over his exposed form, and smiling softly.

"Fili?"  
>"He is here."<p>

"Hello," Fili said in a quiet voice, leaning over his brother. "We made it at last. You'll be on the mend soon enough."

A ghost of a smile flitted across Kili's face and he allowed his eyes to slide shut for a brief moment.

"Do you want me to leave you two alone?" Fili asked discreetly, shifting on his heels before standing to his full stature.

Tauriel merely smiled.

_A roaring in his ears drowned out the sound of babbling voices, and only faint groans filtered through his senses, just barely registering that the groans were from his own throat. The sunlight flashed upon his closed eyelids, shrouding his vision in veined pink and orange as they traversed the woods, bearing him upon an improvised stretcher. He forced his eyes open and saw his brother's back, struggling beneath his weight across the uneven ground. _

_Dark waves of hair hovered around him as Thorin leaned over. "Kili," he spoke, his voice a growl beneath the contained worry that manifested itself in the deep lines of his face. "Kili, stay with us. We are almost there."_

_"Tauriel..." he managed, and Thorin looked away. _

_"You are wounded, but you are going to be alright. We are taking you back to Mirkwood."_

_So that I can die in her arms, he thought..._

When Kili opened his eyes again, darkness still hovered about him, but it was clear and blue, not the graying waves that indicated descent to unconsciousness. It was night. Even breathing filled his ears, but it was not his own. A mass of red hair pooled by his arm and he shifted his head to see Tauriel asleep, lying on her side next to him, overcome by her vigil. He lifted a hand and was surprised at it's steadiness, and lay it upon her, smiling as she stirred. She sat up, and regarded him with a smile.

"You're awake," she whispered, heaving a sigh, and taking his hand.

"You're awake," he echoed, squeezing back warmly.

"How do you feel?"

"Mhm," he reponded, arching his back away from the hard floor, and wondering aloud, "Why am I on the floor?"

"We hadn't dared to move you. Your uncle and brother carried you in and laid you here. The kingsfoil was administered not a moment too late." Her eyes filled with tears. "I thought that you were going to die," she whispered, blinking quickly to keep them from dripping down her face.

"I wasn't going to break my promise," Kili smirked, a glint coming in to his eye as she smiled through her tears.

"Don't sound so sure. You were so close..."

"You are so close." He gave her arm a gentle pull, and she obliged by stretching out beside him.

"Stop echoing me or I will think your mind has been addled," she murmured. Kili just laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thranduil regarded his son with a cold gaze that seemed to go right through him and adhere to the wall behind. _

_"Tell me what this is all about," he said at last, and Legolas shifted uncomfortably under his gaze._

_"I would tell you if there were anything of which to concern yourself, my lord," he said at last, resisting the urge to clench his hands and forcing himself into a natural pose. _

_"The Captain of my Guard... in love?" _

_Legolas winced. Nodding slowly, the king of the woodland realms rose to his full imposing height, only increased by his lofty crown of berries and red leaves._

_"What makes you say such a thing..." Legolas attempted, knowing it was a pitiable effort. "Tauriel and I are close, but I would tell you if such a –"_

_"She carries a child!" Thranduil exploded, his pale gaze burning into his son's visage. "I can see it when she stands before me, even at this distance. She thinks I am a fool."  
>"She thinks no such thing, my lord," the prince began.<em>

_"She cares for someone enough to share their bed, and yet is too shamed to tell." He descended from his throne, looming nearer to Legolas, his cold presence seeming to pervade the spirit of the room and suck the life from it. He leaned toward his son's ear. "Is it you?" he hissed._

It had been several weeks since Kili had returned, his recovery rapid, but arousing a great deal of questions as to why exactly he was even here. Every time she was in his presence Tauriel felt painfully self-conscious and was sure his eyes were roving her form, assessing each change and reaching the only conclusion a sane person could reach.

Even when they slept together, as they had managed to do several times since his recovery, Tauriel's heart throbbed, sure he would notice. If several of the elves about her had managed to see the truth merely in her passing by, how could he not notice while lying together, his hands running over every inch of her body, pressed together impossibly close? The child within her moved almost daily now, and she worried in times like these, when her heartrate was elevated, that he could feel it himself through her skin.

"What is it?" he asked, feeling her pull away. But she only shook her head, and leaned up to kiss him on his slightly bearded cheek.

"Tell me." He nuzzled into her kiss, but spoke nevertheless.

"You'll be... you – won't like it."

"Tell me."

_Legolas lifted his chin, his breast rising and falling in deep breaths. Thranduil did not move, staring the younger elf down until he at last wavered and batted a single eyelash._

_"You know I have had feelings for her."_

_"More than feelings," the king sneered at his son. "And yet you daily send her into danger while she carries your child within her."_

_Legolas's teeth met behind his still lips. He had not spoken the words; he was guilty of nothing. _

_"It has been a mere few months since you first told me of your attachment. Things would not be so progressed unless you had been..." His eyes narrowed. "What are you not telling me?"_

_"You can hardly expect me to tell you these things, my lord," Legolas responded stiffly. _

Kili stared, as if uncomprehending the words she had finally uttered. They had come out, not as a confident statement, but in a pained whisper. It was as if the words were racing through his brain, trying to find a category to fit in, and failing at every turn. She seemed so calm about it, and he was going into a full-fledged panic.

"W-wh..." he stuttered. "You act as if you knew all along this would happen!"

Tauriel looked away. " Why else would you..." she trailed off, her decency preventing further descriptions.

"But – but … dwarves! All the time! And nothing happens," he babbled, his eyes wild. "I just can't believe it." He drew her in to an embrace, his arm wrapped about her waist. Suddenly he drew back and released her, his tongue hurriedly dancing over his lips to wet them in thought.

"What is it?" she murmured, her eyes searching his. He carefully lay his palm against her belly and let out a tiny shaking sigh. Then he lowered his lips to his unborn child and bestowed upon it a heated kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I suppose you've realized by now that the italics are flashbacks and the regular text is present-day. Well, now, the flashbacks have caught up to the present day, so now the changes in text will represent a "meanwhile" sort of effect. Thanks so much for the responses/follows/favorites! Reviews are always lovely. Anyhow, on with the story. **

_Legolas locked eyes with the king of the woodland halls, and refused to back down. Thranduil's pale face garnered a slight flush near the tops of his peaked cheekbones. "You will speak, one day or another."_

_The prince bit back the smart reply that rose to his lips, and merely inclined his head ever so slightly. "Indeed."_

_The resounding crash of his father's scepter being flung to the ground made Legolas jump, and recover his breath in silence. "The captain of my guard! That she would dare-! I have trusted her with my life. Do you understand? My very life! And she betrays me, betrays you, betrays -"_

_"Father, she has betrayed no one but herself. She bears the consequences of her actions, if they can be called such."_

_"'If they can be called such'," Thranduil mocked. "What else would she consider it? A blessing? A reward for her loose ways?"_

_"You know that she is not loose. Tauriel is an honorable elf, and –" _

_"If she were honorable, she would not be with child!" the king managed through clenched teeth. "I am not so cruel as to send her in to danger now. It is not that I care so much for this – life," he spat. "But I realize that this will compromise our safety as she is no longer in condition for perfect performance."_

_Legolas grew slightly flushed in his turn. "You speak of her as if her only value is the service she provides."_

_Wide-eyed, the king regarded his son, lips thin. "And is it not?"_

Kili was still sound asleep when Tauriel arose, the sun gilding the eastern sky, bringing with it twinkles of rainbow light and slight tickles of warmth where its reaching fingers bent and made way for her passing through the halls. Intent on performing her duties as long as she could, and not realizing the king's knowledge of the matter, Tauriel armed herself and proceeded out onto the parapet to review the guards in their responsibilities for the day.

Her voice was firm, her eye bright, notwithstanding the sleepless though happy hours she had spent the previous night. Her hair curled damply around her temples as, armed, she led the company into the forest of Mirkwood to canvass the borders of their lands and discover through what breaches in their security orcs had been entering.

The guards obeyed her silently, and surely. Perhaps it was only in her imagination, but she somehow was beginning to anticipate resistance to her authority. It would come, to be sure. Either that or it would be stripped from her, ruthless, and quick.

_Legolas slowly approached and let his gaze fall upon the empty throne of his father. Thranduil had retired, he knew, some time ago, but he had stood rooted to the spot, unable to leave the chamber, the words of their exchange ringing in the high ceiling and intricate carvings of the pillars. Only the night guard was awake at this hour. The huge chair on it's lofty perch of twisted stairs seemed to both call to him and repel him at the same time. It was a welcome thought to know that he would not be occupying it any time soon. With a deep sigh, and not the first he had uttered for his father's sake, the elf turned and began to walk out of the room when a voice arrested his steps._

_"Thoughts that are spent on behalf of those beyond our reach are like arrows fired at a distant target."_

_The prince turned, and beheld Thorin, King Under the Mountain, his short stature casting a long shadow on the ground from the flickering torches mounted behind him in the corridor. _

_"My thoughts are my own," Legolas replied simply, but his voice lacked the usual venom he laced it with when speaking to the hated dwarven race. "You have no right."_

_Thorin approached slowly, his tread solid and resounding in the empty cavern of the room. "You and I have something in common at last," he said, the begrudging sound of his voice breaking the long silence. _

_Legolas turned and regarded him without opening his mouth. Thorin shut his eyes briefly, and it seemed as if the words were being drug from him as a net is drawn from a lake, straining and heavy. _

_"Kili is a close concern of mine, and I do not want to think of the consequences of his actions."_

_"Tauriel is more than a close concern," Legolas spoke at last. "We are like kin."_

_"We are kin." Thorin regarded him out of the tops of his eyes, the elf looking down at him and resisting the urge to break his penetrating gaze. "He may not be the direct heir, but he is next in line, after Fili." Thorin looked away at last. "But I care for him beyond that. I worry what the elf will do to him."_

_Legolas folded his arms, keeping his tone mild. "What do you mean, 'do to him'? It was my understanding that it was the dwarf that put my friend under some dark spell to win her heart."_

_"You have such a low opinion of us," Thorin sneered. "But you are right, he is under a dark spell."_

_The prince inhaled deeply. "How so?"_

_"The spell of love. It is more poisonous than the most powerful of toxins, and more contagious than a ravaging illness."_

_"You would know little of it's horrors," Legolas said, only half in jest. "You have clearly never loved."_

_Thorin's brow lowered. "Little you know, elf." And then he was gone._

Kili rolled over, the sunlight filtering in patterns upon his face glinting in his eyes, and burning warm lacework onto his skin, and with a hazy realization, saw that Tauriel was no longer beside him. Ah. No matter. More than half the time he would fall asleep in her arms and awaken to find her spot cold beside him, waking up in the same bed being one of the most dangerous things they could allow to happen at this point. He sat up, his legs dangling from the side of the bed, and let gravity bring him to short distance to the ground with a resounding thump. Then the remembrance hit him of her words last night. _"I carry a child."_

The thought had thrilled him at the same time is frightened him. He was constantly being accused, both by his uncle and brother, not to mention the other members of the company of being reckless, of giving little thought to the consequences of his actions.

"Thorin will kill me," he said under his breath, even while a smile played around the corners of his mouth. "A child. My child. Within her." He tugged on his boots and gave a little skip as he approached the mirror and regarded his disheveled hair. Raking it into some semblance of order with his fingers, he felt the news rising in his chest, a dangerous concoction of fear and joy that threatened to explode. Fili. He had to find Fili.

_The moment after the dwarf king exited the throne room, a company of the guard hurried in, confronting the prince with a mixture of confusion and consternation on their faces._

_"What is it, then?" Legolas demanded. "More spiders? Where is the Captain of the Guardl?"_

_"That is the trouble, my lord. Word just spread through the ranks that no one has seen her."_

_"We all assumed that someone else was in her company," the second guard added._

_With a muttered curse, Legolas snapped, "Follow me," and hurried from the room, plying the night guard with questions. "Has no one seen her since the patrol?"_

_"No, my lord. We have been making inquiries all this afternoon."  
>"Why didn't you come for me sooner? Did she not return from the forest?" He was hurriedly fastening his quiver on his back, grasping his bow in a steady grip, and thrusting his blades into their sheaths. <em>

_"It seems not, my lord. She led a smaller company away from the main group, and those in her company say that she ordered them to split up at the borders."_

_"Any encounters?"_

_"Light skirmishing, my lord, with a company of orc."_

_"Elbereth," Legolas breathed. "When are you relieved?"  
>"It is three hours until the next watch," the first guard replied. <em>

_"Then advance the watch, and come with me," the prince ordered. "Take all of those who were not on duty today as well. I want to have every inch of this forest searched." Seeing that they hesitated, Legolas turned. "What is it?"_

_"The king, my lord. Should we not tell him?"_

_It took not a moment's hesitation. "No. Now do as I say."_


	9. Chapter 9

Standing before the carven doorway, Kili stared at the light wood before him and indulged himself in a quiet gale of laughter before he turned back, and rapped cheerily. "Brother!" he called, receiving a frown from a pair of passing guards as his voice ricocheted down the hallway. "Let me in! It is high time to be up!"

The door gave way, and Fili stood in its stead, clad in his undertunic and trousers, his coat cast in a pile beneath the window, his boots somewhere out of sight within the chamber. "I'm awake, as you can see," he said with a grin. "Come in. What brings you here at this unseasonable hour of the morning?"

Kili grinned, his trademark smile stretching from ear to ear as he plopped himself down on the unmade bed, and tried to look idly out the open window. "Rather fine day, for Mirkwood," he commented, running his tongue over his teeth and causing his lips to push outward. Fili regarded him strangely, in his light blue eyes a question.

"You are acting queer," he said slowly. "What on earth has happened to you?"

"Queer? Me?" Kili feigned innocence, a look which never failed to make his brother laugh. It did not fail now.

"Stop acting so naïve."

"Guess. It's something good."

"Thorin gave you a compliment?"

Kili sighed tragically. "Alas, no, that was a one time occurrence, I'm afraid."

"And only when he thought you were going to die," Fili laughed. "That's uncle for you. How many guesses have I got?" He furrowed his brow.

Kili looked at the ceiling. "Um- three more."

"Three more..." His brother began to pace, scowling playfully. "I hate it when you do this to me. You are turning in to an elf?"

"That's not good!" Kili exclaimed. "I would sooner die. The first time one of them touched me – it was as if..." he shuddered. "Their skin is so smooth. Something is wrong with that."

"But your opinions changed..." his brother pointed out slyly. "You don't think that now, do you?"

"Just guess," Kili growled.

_The night was thick over the twisting paths of Mirkwood, fogs and swirling mists hovering just above the ground and muffling their footfalls. There were hurried rustlings among the trees to either side of them, sometimes above and behind as well, but the trained ears of the elves ignored these disconcerting noises and listened only for the signs of their missing commander._

_Anxious thoughts pounded through Legolas's head as his eyes searched the darkness, the moonlight above them forming crooked distortions on their way as it filtered through the branches above them. Thank heavens for its bright light. Without it one could not see a foot in front of one's face. _

_"Swift and silent, do not call out," Legolas ordered under his breath to those near him, knowing that worse things than orcs and spiders lurked in the shadows of Mirkwood after sunset. "She will be seated, or lying down. Likely wounded, so watch your care of her."_

_Fighting the overwhelming urges of sleep pressing on the senses, for hours they traversed the trackless floor of the woods until, near the eastern border of their lands, a sudden cry was heard. "Here!" a guard called, his voice muffled through the tangling vines hung from the treetops above them. "My lord, she is here!"_

_Legolas ruthlessly hacked the dying vegetation aside and pushed his way through the snarled assemblage, sighting the elf kneeling by the side of the Captain, who lay prone on the moss. The guard turned as Legolas dropped to his knees beside her and took in at a glance her condition: her hair was tangled, but no more than it often was when she returned from battling spiders, her face more pale than he had ever seen her, almost lavender, and her body limp and motionless. Blessedly, her breast rose and fell with deep breaths, but the air whistled through her parted lips and seemed to come with great effort._

"Alright. Two more to go. You got your bow back?"

"Already told you that."

"Aule! Then... I don't know, I give up!"

"You give up?" Kili was clearly enjoying this.

"I said, I give up-!" Fili vociferated, pouncing on his brother and tussling him into the sheets. "Now tell me!"

Kili's laughter filled the room and at last his head appeared from the bottom edge of the coverlet, gasping for air.

"What was that for?"

"For winding me around your little finger –"

"Like I always do," Kili smiled charmingly.

With a grunt, Fili clambered off him, and regarded him with wide eyes. "Well? Are you going to tell me or not?"

Kili took a deep breath. "Tauriel is with child."

His brother's face was a picture. First shock played over his features: his jaw dropped ever so slightly and his eyes went completely blank. Then with a tiny squeak, he remember to breathe again and broke into a wide grin, his mouth stretching to reveal every single one of his teeth, even while his eyes still harbored confusion.

"That is... good?"  
>"Of course it's good!" his brother exclaimed. "Why, do you not think so?"<br>"Thorin is going to kill you."  
>"That's what I said," Kili grumbled. "But I'm – I'm so happy. Aren't you?"<p>

Fili was staring across the room with an amused expression on his face.

"What?" Kili punched him. "Why do you look like that? Stop, you're making me feel strange."

"It's just – I was right. About your dream."

"What dream?"

Fili rolled his eyes. "A little you running about," he quoted, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He ran a hand down his beard and gave a deep sigh. "Mahal, that's a way to wake someone up in the morning."

"Oh- but it has to be a secret. Apparently some of the elves won't think well of this, or something," Kili said flippantly. "She didn't even tell me until just last night, and it has been happening ever since I left to go to the Lonely Mountain! Can you believe that?"

"You don't know how that works?" His brother regarded him dubiously. "Of course."

"I feel dense." Kili ruffled his hair comfortably. "But I'm so glad now."

"Where is she?"

"Duty." Kili rolled his eyes. "I told her not to go, but she said she'd be careful. Soon she won't be able to, and that will make me happy."

The two brothers spent the rest of the day together, catching up on some long-needed camaraderie, and Kili barely noticed that when night fell, Tauriel had still not returned. That is, not until one of the elven guard came and questioned him, saying that she had not yet returned from the forest.


	10. Chapter 10

"_Tauriel-" Legolas spoke her name, louder than he had dared to speak that night, and seized her hand, rubbing it between his own. "Tauriel, are you alright? Is she wounded?" He turned to regard the other guard, who carefully began to inspect her body for injury. Running practiced hands along her limbs and gently probing her torso, a look of shock came over the guard's face as he reached her abdomen which was firm and slightly distended. _

_Brushing him aside, Legolas completed the search himself, slowly rolling Tauriel over and eying with displeasure the slash that had penetrated her cuirass and which had seeped blood along her tunic. "She has lost much blood, but the hurt is not deep," he pronounced, deftly removing her empty quiver and her bow from her shoulders, and unbuckling her blades as well, depositing them on the nearest guard and taking her into his arms. At the movement, Tauriel stirred, and her eyelids crinkled, before fluttering open. Legolas' stern face looked down in to hers._

_"I'm alright," she managed, taking a deep breath. "I just needed to –"_

_"You were wounded and the nighttime mists overcame you," he finished. "We are taking you back to the halls to have a healer look at your hurt."_

_"No," she furrowed her brow and winced as she wriggled in his arms. "No, put me down, I can walk..."_

_Stopping, the elf eased her feet to the ground, retaining hold of her arms until she proved her words. "Are you dizzy?" he asked quietly. "It is no trouble to carry you."_

_"It is not as bad as it was, cloth stuck to the wound stops the bleeding," she murmured, making her way unsteadily forward. "I can attend to it as soon as we return."_

_"I will run back to the halls and arouse one of the healers," a guard spoke, and at Legolas' nod, prepared to speed ahead of them. Tauriel stopped him._

_"No." Her voice was surprisingly firm, the sensation of light-headedness fleeing from her. "I can attend to it myself."_

_"Don't be foolish, you cannot reach it," Legolas murmured into her ear._

_"Then I will have you attend to it, but no one else," she replied, formality cast aside as she met his eyes. "It is not bad." She lifted her voice, though it still shook with fatigue. "I thank you for coming to find me."_

Kili paced the floor, concern plowing a furrow deep into his forehead, his hands sweating where they were clasped tightly together behind his back. He felt like screaming, and throwing himself on the floor, and arming himself in every way possible and plunging into the forest to find her, and tearing madly through thorn and briar, mounting earth and tree and stone until he at last could draw her within his arms, and hold her safely there, forever and a day, if need be.

He started to do all those things at once – letting out an anguished shout, then falling to his knees only to leap again to his feet and rush to his weapons, fastening the buckles with shaking hands when the door opened behind him and he turned to see one of the elven guard.

"She has returned," he said, and Kili nearly knocked him over as he rushed out the door.

_They continued along in silence until the prince desired an explanation. "What happened?" he asked at last. _

_"My company could tell you," Tauriel replied. "Half a score of orcs came from the west felds and skirted the rim of the forest, seeking to enter where the path begins and where the trees are farther apart. Negotiation was pointless, nor did we discover what they wanted. I gave my men order to kill without mercy, and set off myself with the aim of taking a prisoner." Her face darkened. _

_"He overcame you?" Legolas supplied in a quiet voice._

_"I don't understand. I was assaulted with a wave of weakness, and my knees nearly gave out. Hence, the attack from behind. He escaped, but the others were slain." She winced as her back curved to compensate for the incline of the ground as they approached the king's halls. "Thank you for coming to get me."_

_Legolas ordered the guards back to their quarters with instructions to tell no one of this excursion, and then turned back to Tauriel._

_"We did not tell my father."_

_"Kili?"_

_His face grew firm. "He is likely worried – the guards questioned him as to your return."_

_Tauriel exhaled through her nose. "He ought not to be troubled; I am here now, and simply must rest for the night."_

_"And the following day, perhaps more, if you know what's good for you," the prince said with finality. Tauriel regarded him for a long moment, and her silence served as an accord. _

Tauriel's chamber was illuminated by the light of the stars which shone through an appurtenance on the roof designed for such a purpose, and she lay still upon her bed, attended by Legolas alone. Kili entered like a whirlwind and flung himself past the elven prince, gripping her hand.

"Tauriel!" he gasped. "Tauriel, what happened?"

"I'm fine, really," she said, in her voice a smile. She sounded exhausted, but mercifully alive, and Kili buried his face in her hair.

"I was so worried," he breathed. "I thought you wouldn't be alright."

"You shouldn't have been worried," Tauriel said thinly. "If it were up to me, you shouldn't have known. My duties often take me out at night, and my hurt is not much."

"Hurt?" Kili looked dismayed. "You are hurt?"

"A small wound in her back, it will heal in a matter of days," the prince said calmly. "I attended to it myself."  
>Kili looked up, meeting the light eyes of the elf for the first time in a long while. Their gaze continued, genuine, and unabashed for a long moment, before Kili managed, utterly sincere, "Thank you."<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

_Thorin lay awake, staring mutely at the ceiling of his chamber, his eyes refusing to remain shut no matter how long he urged himself that he needed the sleep. Memories overwhelmed him like a flood, and threatened to smother him under their depths, no matter how much he fought for air. Rolling over and pushing back the light coverlet, he padded over to the window, his arms crossed over his chest. This place. This hateful place. He could not leave soon enough. _

_He felt gratefulness raise its strong arm and strike him a blow across the face for his complacency. These elves had saved Kili's life. But he had seen the way he looked at the red-haired guard, the one who exchanged words with him outside his cell when they were prisoners of the king. And he didn't like it. He was no fool, and he feared for him, knowing that dwarves only form an attachment of this nature once in their lives. Woe betide the dwarf who loves another already spoken for, or out of his reach. That explained the rarity of dwarven marriages and offspring. It simply was a slim chance that things would work out. _

_The king under the mountain was eager to return to his newly-reclaimed kingdom, and begin the restoration work. It would be a massive undertaking, to undo the destruction wrought by the dragon, but work he welcomed, laboring alongside the dwarves he loved and respected and to whom he had come to owe his life. Fili would one day sit on the throne after him. But what of Kili? What if this hothead had given his heart to an elf, of all people? He swallowed back the rising ire in his throat and spun on his heel, stalking away from the window. _

That night, Kili refused to leave Tauriel's chamber, or even allow himself to be physically separated from her for more than a moment. He clung to her hand with the tenacity of a drowning man, and when Tauriel laughingly inquired if she was allowed to get up for a drink of water, he shook his head, releasing her for a brief moment in order to bring it to her bedside, and helping her sit up.

"I am not an invalid, you know," she smiled as she lay back on the pillow, and he clambered back up onto the bed, curling up by her side, his head pillowed on her torso. "I won't know how to behave if you continue to act in such a way."

"Just lie still and let me be happy to be with you," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close.

"Stop it," she said, turning her head away in slight embarrassment. "You're behaving so strangely."

"You have it with you all day," Kili pouted, sitting up, his finger idly tracing patterns on her belly. He regarded her with a warm gaze. "Don't begrudge me a few moments. It is so curious to me..." he mused aloud, delight playing over his features. "Dwarf women are treated so well during their time of carrying, lest something happen to the babe. It is so rare. A miracle. I never get to see such a thing."

_Silhouetted in the doorway stood a short figure. "Fili," he said quietly, advancing with a stern face. "What are you doing here?"_

_"I can hear your tread in my chamber. Something troubles you."_

_"Just go to sleep," Thorin rumbled, lifting a hand in dismissal and turning away. "It's none of your concern."_

_"Kili is as much my concern as yours, Thorin."_

_The dwarf king stared at his nephew, his heir. "Tell me what you know."_

_Fili shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"_

_"He loves the elf, doesn't he." It was not a question. He heaved a sigh. "I feared as much." Running a thick hand over his beard, Thorin eased himself to a seat on the bed, and stared straight in front of him. "He will be heartbroken when we leave."_

_"That's just it." Fili's voice was soft on the shadows. "I don't think he'll want to leave."_

_"He must." Thorin's voice increased in volume, but he stopped himself. "He said he hates it here. Hates the food, hates the woods, hates the elves -"_

_"But he loves Tauriel."_

_"He will have to do what many other dwarves have done before him – realize she is not for him, and turn his steps away."_

_"It's not that easy –"_

_"Don't speak to me of this," Thorin snapped. "You know nothing."  
>"I know..." Fili said slowly, "that their love is true."<br>"You have never loved. How would you know? He told you, I suppose?" Fili nodded. "Typical. So typical!" Thorin slammed his hands down onto his knees and pushed himself to his feet. "He does not understand. He thinks this is love."_

_"It is." Fili's pale eyes glowed in the moonlight. "She loves him."_

_"She cannot. They abhor our race as we abhor theirs. Why should the Captain of the Guard be an exception?"_

_"She has a gentle heart, and so does he. They are united in their thoughts and deeds."_

_Thorin snorted. "Listen to you, waxing poetic. As if you understood. As if either of you understood love."_

Tauriel lay in silence, watching his eyes rove her form and take in with delight the rise and fall of her stomach with each breath she took. At last she shut her eyes, smiling in spite of herself. "Stop."

"I didn't know elves could blush!" Kili exclaimed, pouncing onto the pillow by her head and touching her hot cheeks. "I thought they were always pale and imperturbable!"

"Little you know, dwarf," she scowled, running her fingers over his not-quite-stubble. "What do you call this again? A beard?" she inquired, grinning at his look of annoyance.

"Don't tease. I'm trying as hard as I can. The greens I am eating certainly aren't doing much," he groused. "I haven't had any real food in a week. No wonder I'm not getting any stronger."

Tauriel sat up, reaching toward where the bandage was bound around the middle of her back. "It's feeling much better already," she said, but still winced a little at the movement. "Athelas works wonders, and it was freely administered."

"Was it bad? I didn't see it."

"It likely won't scar much," Tauriel assured him. "It was just a scrape, really."

"I wish I could have seen it," Kili said doubtfully. "Then I'd know whether to believe you or not."

_"Why are you so angry?" Fili asked, exasperated. "What has he done against you? The consequences of his actions are his alone."_

_"They are never his alone. We all pay, in some way or another. He must come with us."_

_"It would break him."  
>"He would recover."<em>

_"I fear not." Fili shook his head. "It's not that simple, not any more. She carries his child." He bit his tongue the moment he said it, tasting blood. Thorin's eyes burned into his. _

_"She what?" His voice was a low growl, barely audible._

_Fili looked away at a loss. "Be gentle on him." _

_"Gentle!" Thorin whispered, his voice thick with intensity. "Does he realize what this means for him? For her? For us?"_

_"Don't be so selfish," Fili murmured. "You have your kingdom back, and an heir that will not disappoint you"_

_"Don't try to raise yourself above him," Thorin snapped. "You two are both inexperienced in the ways of the world, and foolish, though Mahal seems to have fated the ill-luck to go to the younger of you."_

_"He... seems to realize the gravity of his situation," Fili said, more a hope than an avowed statement of truth. "No doubt he will reach a decision soon."_

_"Well, he cannot come with us," Thorin said, as if the decision were obvious. "I would not have him abandon her."_

_Thorin's eyes were unreadable, and Fili recognized the tense knotting of his shoulders beneath his tunic as his uncle clenched his hands in effort to hide an emotion of some kind. "I will not have him abandon her. Nor will he stay here. They must both leave, then. But that is their decision, not ours."_

_Thorin remained standing in the window long after Fili left the room. _


	12. Chapter 12

Tauriel rose early, ignoring the dangerous tilting of the floor beneath her as she helped herself to a small sip of water. The feelings of illness in the morning had still not passed entirely, but on the whole, things were improving greatly. Turning and regarding herself in the mirror, she slipped her shift from her shoulders, using the sleeves to bind it about her waist as she twisted to try and catch a glimpse of the wound on her back.

It was just below her shoulderblades, and she could feel from the tingling sensation of the kingsfoil that it ran diagonally across her spine. Thankfully her thick cuirass had protected her from what could have otherwise been a crippling blow. Her back was bruised, she noticed, as lifting her arms, she passed the roll of the bandage from hand to hand, unwinding herself, and casting a quick glance back over her shoulder to where Kili still slept. Ah.

She could see it. An angry slash had parted the tender flesh and would most certainly leave a scar. Dark greenish bruising surrounded the newly healed skin, and would take some time to vanish. She had never been this careless before, but then, she had never unexplainably lost strength when standing before her foe.

_The orc rose in front of her, his twisted dark face a maw of piercings and distortions, an evil leer in his eyes. Setting an arrow to the taut string of her bow and swiftly training it on him. Tauriel drew back and commanded, "Kneel, scum, and I will spare your life."_

_A string of black speech came as his only reply, and Tauriel duly released the arrow which sped on its course and entered the thick shoulder of the orc. He let forth an angered bellow, snapping off the shaft and tightening his grip on his enormous weapon. She did not intend to kill this one; prisoners were needed to obtain the reason for the intrusions of their land. _

_"Kneel, and I will spare you!" she shouted again, but as a response, the orc raised his heavy blade and aimed a blow in her direction. Though slender, her own knives equaled any other sword in strength, and she quickly hung her bow over her shoulder, meeting each shock with surety and skill. Hilts locked, she looked deep into the eyes of the orc, shuddering at the smell on his breath, the scent of death and rotting things, and intending on plunging her other blade deep into his torso. But he spoke again and the smell overcame her, her senses reeling inside her head. With a guttural screech, the orc thrust her backwards, knocking her off her feet, and advancing until he stood over her, sword raised._

_She tensed her entire body, and rolled to the right just as the orc's weapon split the earth where she had been laying. Scrambling to her feet as he wildly hacked the ground, Tauriel turned and began to set an arrow to her bow once again, when a wave of shimmering shadow overcame her, flickering tiny specks of light before her vision. She fell to her knees just as the blade crashed into her back, sending her sprawling forward at the base of the tree. Heavy footsteps retreated, but Tauriel could do no more than simply lie still and try to stop the pounding in her ears. _

Kili's muffled sighing brought her back from her memories, and turning, she saw him flop onto his back, his arm falling across the pillow, regarding the waking world with sleep-filled eyes.

"Hm, morning," he murmured, letting his eyes fall closed again, before opening them, and sitting up, curiosity in his face. "Mahal, is that -"

Tauriel hurriedly covered herself, looking away, saying in a quiet voice, "It could have been worse."

"That isn't a comforting thought," Kili said doubtfully, sitting on the edge of the bed and regarding her with an enigmatic gaze.

"What is it?"

He continued to look at her, and a spark of fire kindled in his eyes. "Are you feeling well?"

"Much better than last night, the sleep was good."

Getting to his feet, Kili crossed the room and stood before her; the top of his head just reached her chin. His breath came, deep and heavy, notwithstanding the white light that filled the chamber, and he reached a purpose-laden hand around her lower back. She said nothing, but caught her breath as he tipped his chin up, rising to his toes, and pressing a hot kiss to the soft flesh underneath her jaw. Running a hand over the braids that trailed the sides of her head, Kili felt her lean down into him, and captured her lips with his. She intertwined her fingers in his untidy hair and pulled ever so slightly. He felt his neck muscles go weak at her touch and broke the kiss, gently trailing the tip of his nose all over her face, until he nestled it into her eye socket just next to the bridge of her nose.

He heard her laugh slightly and took advantage of her distraction, burying his face in her bosom as he gently steered her backwards to the bed. She gasped and stood rigid until the bolster pressing into the backs of her knees made them buckle and he was atop her, every inch of his body burning.

_First thing in the morning, Legolas was called into the throne room. His father's seat, however, was empty, and it took him a moment for him to sight Thranduil standing in one of the gabled windows, his back to him._

_"My lord, you sent for me." Legolas crossed the room silently, and stood near at hand, inwardly vowing to make his replies as brief and uncompromising as possible. When the king turned, however, his face was a mask of stillness and memory, and if he was not mistaken, some very near cousin of anger – regret, perhaps – simmered behind his tranquil gaze. _

_"Do you understand what it is you are doing?" he said, regarding his son as if he were expected to know exactly what the enigmatic question meant._

_"I don't understand you," Legolas said quietly. "I think I understand it well."_

_"Corrupting one of my subjects, one of your own subjects." _

_Legolas wondered why he didn't anticipate this. He took in his breath and resolved to make his reply as respectful as possible. "Corruption seems to me to be a bad thing." He spoke slowly, aware that his father's eyes bored in to him. "To me, if it was with mutual consent, it is not corruption."_

_Thranduil snorted. "You are bold."_

_"I am truthful." His breast smote him at the falsity of these words. Lying did not come easily to him, nor to any elf, but betrayal of a friend came even harder. _

_"Boldness is by far the most favorable synonym for folly," the king continued, his eyes still glazed. "I speak from experience. Do you still feel the same way for her?"_

_"I have told you, I love Tauriel, and I would give my life for her, if need be."_

_"Search your feelings. Regret is the first drop of blood upon the light sky of futurity."_

_"I don't pretend to understand you," Legoals said, well aware of the stiffness in his voice. "Why should I love her any less now?"_

"Kili – it is daylight..." Tauriel managed, as he grasped the edge of her shift and held it in a sweating hand. "We shouldn't –"

"You needed to rest last night," he said, giving her a brief smile. "Now that you're rested, allow me to catch up."

She grasped his heavy shoulders and felt the heat of him emanate through his clothing. As if sensing what she was doing, he began to fight with the fabric, not seeming to be able to get it away from his skin fast enough.

"What if someone were to – "

"You are so beautiful when you protest me..." He ignored her, and soon the morning light glared upon his bare skin. It was the lightest of bronze hues, and beneath it was a wall of solid muscle. Tauriel felt the roughness of his chest and the sensation was thrilling to her, so unlike the smooth skin of an elf it was.

"You 're –" She broke off as the sound of ripping fabric filled the room, and a look of horror crossed the young dwarf's face. The delicate material of her shift had torn under his impatient yanking in eagerness to get it off of her, and his eyes were wide.

"Sorry-" he began in a small voice. "Was that – important...?"

Tauriel shook her head, as he rolled off her, sitting up and slipping the torn garment up over her head. The bandage had not been rewound about her, and she suddenly felt very exposed though her heavy hair fell about her. Kili regarded her, the light in his eyes quickly returning.

"Much better," he breathed, the shift forgotten, as he loomed above her once again, his weight bearing her deep into the bed.

"It is daylight," she repeated, her mind vaguely wondering why she was still protesting as she, in turn, kissed his tensing neck and ran her light fingers over his back, sending pleasure shivering through every inch of him. "This isn't right."

"I'll stop when you stop," Kili whispered, and Tauriel had no response to this.

_Thranduil stood directly before the prince, speaking in a measured voice. "Listen well to me. Many years ago in the struggle between the dark elves of the north, prisoners were taken in these halls. One seemed beautiful to me, and possessed a spirit of beauty and courage. I took her and knew her." The prince beheld his father in shock as he revealed these details of his actions. "But afterward despised her, for things progressed too quickly, and were done without her consent. Before, and even during the act it seems to be of little consequence. But afterward, my heart knew the difference. I was a king, and she did as I commanded. Our love was passionate, but not beautiful."_

_"This seems to me to be a record of your wrongdoing, not mine," Legolas spoke quietly. "There are no ill feelings between us, and she was not violated against her will, that I assure you."_

_"I hid my shame. She was released with the others some time later, and I was never told of the future of the child she bore. I did not wish to know."_

_Legolas felt his face grow stiff. He must not betray anything but attentiveness to this knowledge, though the king certainly did not know the things he did. _

_"You think Tauriel should be sent away in ignominy," he said at last, "because she is beneath me and we could never properly be wed."_

_"No." Thranduil's face was sheet white. "I think _you_ should be sent away."_


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello, dear readers! I honestly had no idea this was going to turn in to something so long! I hope you are enjoying :-) I appreciate your feedback so much - keep it up! God bless, Viola**

Fili wandered the halls of the woodland king, calling aloud for his brother. He was not in his chamber, and he did not know where Tauriel's chamber was, but that is where he had a strong suspicion he might be. Though at this hour of the morning...

"Kili!" he bellowed once again. "Kili, where are you?" He opened his mouth to shout one more time when suddenly the door at the end of the corridor opened, and Kili, clad only in his trousers which were in a state Fili knew better than to mistake, flew out into the hall.

"Fili!" he exclaimed, grabbing his brother by the shoulders. "Fili, something is terribly wrong with her."

"Wh-" Fili began, but Kili rushed on.

"She – she will barely talk and feels cold all over."

"What did you do to her?" Fili demanded, following his brother at a run into the room.

"Nothing – unusual –" Kili managed. "But then she just grew so quiet, and now –"

Mercifully, a sheet had been pulled up to cover her for the most part, but Tauriel lay, very pale, upon the bed. Fili grabbed the cup of water from a nearby table and thrust it in to Kili's hand.

"See if she'll drink this."

"She doesn't want to – Tauriel – Tauriel..." Kili took her hand, and slowly her head turned to face him, a wan smile playing over her white lips.

"Please, don't make a fuss," she managed. "I'm only sorry to –"

"Tell me what is going on."

"I don't know," she whispered.

Fili leaned over the pair, and pressed, "What do you feel?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, really."

"_Nothing_?" Kili's eyes were full of fear. "Can you feel this?" He gave her hand a vigorous squeeze. She smiled.

"Of course."

"What about this?" He set to vigorously rubbing the top of her leg beneath the sheet.

"Very faint," she murmured, and then promptly lost consciousness. Kili turned to to his brother, panic rising in his throat. "A healer," he croaked. "We need to tell a healer."

Fili's face was a picture of conflict. "She wouldn't like that. A healer will know the truth of her–"

"She's dying!" Kili wailed. "Get a healer, for Aule's sake! And get uncle, he knows things!"

_Silence reigned. The prince of Mirkwood finally found his voice. _

_"Disinherited?" he managed._

_"No." Joy flooded his senses, as the king concluded., "But you are not to speak of this to anyone, nor come into any knowledge of what becomes of either of them. You are to be kept above this– above my mistakes." Legolas hardly registered the fact that his father had admitted he made mistakes in his profound relief._

_"And – what of Tauriel?" he found himself asking. _

_Thranduil remained silent. That alone was enough to alarm the prince. "What do you have in mind for her?" he demanded. _

_The king wheeled, Legolas standing firm under his roiling gaze. "Where is she? I have not seen her since yesterday morning."_

_Legolas looked away briefly. "She led an excursion to the borders, was mildly injured, and is likely resting."_

_"This does not concern you?"_

_"On the contrary – I am glad she listened to advice for once. I will lead the patrol today."_

_Just then, the doors to the throne room were burst open from without and the blond-haired dwarf barreled through. _

Stopping short, Fili gave a deep bow, and then rushed forward. Legolas met him in the middle of the room.

"What is going on?" he demanded, casting a meaningful glance back over his shoulder to where Thranduil stood, watching the proceedings with shrewd eyes.

"A healer," the dwarf breathed. "My brother begs of you to send a healer."

"For whom?"

"The Captain of the Guard," he whispered. With a brief bow, Legolas left the room with the dwarf.

"What has happened?" he asked as they hurried through the twisting halls. "Where is she?"

"My brother fears she is in a very bad state – she is pale, will not speak much, and says she can hardly feel."

Legolas set his jaw and said nothing, rounding the corner and striding quickly to the chamber at the end of the corridor. The door stood open and he entered directly, seeing Kili the dwarf standing hopelessly by her bedside and wriging her hand within his own.

"Get back," Legolas ordered, bending, and lowering a hand before her nose and mouth. Her breaths were humid and light upon his palm, and he scowled at Kili. "Where is her clothing?"

He pointed wordlessly to her tunic which was hung upon a chair, and lifted the torn shift from the tangle of bedclothes at her feet. Legolas cast it aside, and said, "She must be dressed before a healer is called."

Quickly and silently the two worked together while Fili watched in shameless consternation, and soon Tauriel lay back on the tidied bed, the picture of order and decency.

"A healer will expose her condition to all." Legolas looked gravely at the dark-haired dwarf. "Is that what you want? It is likely the cause of her weakness."

"What about the stuff that healed her wound?" Kili asked in a small voice. "Would that help her?"

Legolas resisted the urge to glare at the dwarf's ignorance. "Don't be ridiculous," he murmured. "It is her body rejecting the presence of another race's blood within her."

Letting out a strangled moan, Kili buried his face in his hands, his brother coming to his side in a moment and pulling him into his arms.

"Has anyone ever survived this?" Fili asked the elf, sqeezing his brother's shoulders to stop his shaking.

The prince's gaze was unreadable. "What do you mean?"

"Has an elf ever successfully carried and given birth to a dwarf's child?"

For an eternally long moment Legolas hesitated. "Once."

"And what of the child?"

"The child lived."

Fili held his breath. "The mother?"

"She died."


	14. Chapter 14

_The forest king was no fool. He saw the exchange between the dwarven prince and his son, and knew something was amiss. The Captain of the Guard was unwell. A brief period of illness could be expected when an elven woman carried a child, but nothing serious enough to merit the summoning of a healer. And he knew well the look of terror in the eyes of a dwarf, when something they valued could be taken away from them. Greedy, small-minded creatures. _

_He seated himself upon his throne with an enormous sigh, and just then caught sight of a group of guards passing by, a shorter figure in their midst._

_"Halt, there!" he called imperiously, and the guard did as commanded, revealing their charge to be Thorin Oakenshield, king under the mountain._

_"What are you doing?"_

_"The prince sent word to bring the dwarf king to the chamber of the Captain of the Guard," one replied. "It seems his nephews are there under some extremity, and desire his presence."_

_"You have no business carrying messages between my son and dwarves," Thranduil replied with a haughty sniff. "Send him in, and be on your way."_

_Thorin approached slowly, regarding his enemy out of the tops of his eyes. "We meet again," he growled._

_"So it would seem." Thranduil rose, and swept slowly down the curving stairs to the floor level of the throne room, and confronted the dwarf before him._

_"What is this about?"_

_"I was on my way to find out," Thorin replied, "But I was detained in an untimely manner."_

_"Watch your words," Thranduil warned. "We do not stand here as equals."_

_"You are wrong, king of trees." Thorin straightened, standing to his full height which neared Thranduil's shoulder. "Before we stood together as a sovereign and a wandering prince, but now you speak to me as one king to another, as you should have done before."_

_The elf's eyes narrowed. "Very well. Trouble with your nephew?" He had been watching the younger dwarf carefully, but had been able to discern nothing as of yet._

_"Kili is always into trouble," Thorin admitted, allowing a little bit of light to creep in to his gaze. "But it is no concern of yours."_

_"On the contrary. I am concerned for my son, you are concerned for Kili, did you say? What a strange name..." He grimaced but Thorin stood his ground. "My son loves one he cannot possess for she is beneath him. It seems to me his attention for her flags, as is to be expected now that he has successfully impregnated her."_

_Thorin was shocked at the elf's brutal words. "You would know of that, wouldn't you," he muttered. Thranduil's gaze flew to his._

_"What did you say?"_

_The dwarf king stared him in the face. "I was told of your escapades years ago."_

_"By whom?" he hissed._

_"Your daughter." _

_Thranduil stepped back as if struck. _

Legolas pushed open the door for the healer to enter, having finally convinced both dwarf brothers of the inappropriateness of their presence there. They were sent out to the balcony at the upper end of the hall to "get some air," as the prince had pointedly told Fili. He obediently ushered his younger brother from the room, and now they sat side by side on a bench, watching the wind stir the treetops of Mirkwood before them.

"She will be alright," Fili said at last, as Kili seemed to be making no moves at conversation.

"And what if she's not?" Kili burst out. "Then I will be to blame!"

"No, you won't, it's not as if it were your fault –"

"Don't be an idiot," Kili said bitterly. "Of course it's my fault. I – I just don't think... I could bear it if –"

"Shut up," Fili said gently, flinging his arm around him once again. "Just shut up, and think of something else."

"I can't," Kili said in despair. "What is happening to her?"

"Well, I imagine the healers are finding that out now." Fili sat in silence for a moment, staring straight ahead of them in thought. At last he began, "What will they do to her when they see she carries a child?"

"Do to her?" Kili murmured, sounding utterly defeated. "Nothing, I hope."

"I don't suppose it is well-looked upon."

"The prince is covering for us," he said. Fili looked surprised.

"And – that's alright with you? Another owning your child?"

Kili shrugged. "If it saves her reputation."  
>"What about yours?"<p>

"Don't do that, not now," Kili mumbled, burying his face in his brother's shoulder. "I am so worried I think I'll die. Not even on our quest was I this overwrought as I've been these past few days."

"I know. I miss your smile." Fili looked down at the top of his little brother's head and bestowed on it a solid kiss.

"Stop it." A chuckle rode the end of his command. Fili did it again, and giggles wafted up from beneath the mop of his brother's dark hair on his shoulder. Before they knew it, they were rolling over and over in the dried leaves that strewed the floor of the balcony, growling like animals and laughing like maniacs. Only when they stopped, Fili on top, did they notice the tall, serene elf regarding them from the doorway.

"Ahm – yes?" Fili said, clambering off his brother who coughed and dusted himself off. "Is Thorin not coming?"

"He is in conversation with the king," the elf responded. "The healer is finished, however, and the prince told me you would like to know." The incongruity of the statement was painted keenly in the elf's eyes as he watched the two brothers push past and hurtle down the passageway.

_"What did you say?" Thranduil demanded for the second time. "My _what_?"_

_"Daughter," Thorin said solidly. "I knew her, in Rivendell, many years ago." _

_"What were you doing in Rivendell?" the elf demanded. "Lord Elrond professes to be old friends with Thror, but –"_

_"My grandfather and father sent me there for a season to learn temperance." Thorin scoffed at the notion even now. "I hated it. But I met an elf there who was different. She was the child of a northern prisoner... and a woodland king."_

_"What was Lord Elrond doing with her?"_

_"Raising her. And assuring good relations between her, and your son."Abruptly Thranduil raised his hand as if to strike the dwarf king, but Thorin merely took a step closer, muttering, "I loved her."_

_"The audacity of this tale knows no bounds," the elf breathed. "Where will you stop?"_

_"Every word of it is true. I am telling you this to prove that relations can exist between elves and dwarves."_

_"From your own lips," Thranduil sneered. "I hate you as much as you hate me."_

_"But I loved her. She bore a child. I know not what become of her, because we left Rivendell together. We were accosted by an orc pack, and separated. I revived word that she died after giving birth. The child was taken by your son – " Thranduil's face was livid. "-And given to one who would declare it as his own. I wished to not be informed of anything further."_

_"Why do you tell me this? This is your shame, dwarf. If your new kingdom knew –" _

_"But they will not, just as your kingdom does not know of your misdeeds. I tell you this because the Captain of your Guard carries a child. A dwarven child."_

_The elven king took in his breath, his chest swelling beneath his fine robe. "How _dare _you."  
>"It is true. Kili loves her. And as foolish as I think this is, I am merely asserting that it has been done before. I know."<em>

_"But – but she died..." The elf's eyes glowed. "Is she dying?"_

_"Surrounded by an orc pack after months on the road, moments after giving birth, who would not despair of life. I am not predicting anything. Anything at all, except hope."_


	15. Chapter 15

The healer's face was grave as she regarded the prince of the woodland realm and the two dwarves. "I can offer you no further instructions except to wait and see what will come of this, and only take as much exertion as she can manage."

"I am fine, really," Tauriel's voice came from the bed, but Fili snapped, "Shut up!" turning back to the healer. Kili glared at him. "Sorry. Go on."

"That is all. I'll leave you in peace." And the healer exited the room in a swish of gossamer breezes. Legolas lingered a moment longer.

"Can I trust you not to do anything... foolish?" he asked the younger dwarf with a mild look. "This is a most strange occurrence, and should not be treated lightly."

"Of course. He'll never do anything reckless again," Fili promised, giving his brother's back a thump, and then grabbing Legolas' arm, intending to drag him from the room. The elf looked shocked.

"Apologies," Fili murmured. "Let's leave, though." He exited quickly, after giving a grin and a nod to Tauriel, saying "I'm glad you're alright." The prince also gave her a meaningful smile which she returned, and then followed the dwarf.

Kili rushed across the room and took her hand, covering it in kisses. "Please, please say you're going to be alright," he pleaded, his brown eyes filling up and threatening to overflow. "Please say nothing is happening to you because of this."  
>"I'm going to be alright," she replied quietly, lifting her other hand and stroking his bangs from his eyes as a single tear dripped down his cheeks. "I don't know what happened..."<p>

"I do," Kili exclaimed bitterly. "And it is my fault."

"Hush. No it isn't."

"Don't be ridiculous." He burrowed his face into her side and sobbed quietly for a few moments. At last, he lifted his face, red, and smeared, and wiped it with the back of his hand. "There, I'm alright," he hiccoughed, managing in a whisper, "Just don't ever scare me like that again."

Tauriel made no response, but lay quietly as he swirled his fingers in the depths of her hair. Finally, she opened her mouth. "Kili?" she asked softly. "Can I ask you a question?"

He nodded, his concerned gaze meeting hers.

"If – if worse came to worst, and you had to choose between saving the child, or saving me, which would you choose?"

"How can you ask me that..." Kili gasped, the question barely more than air in his mouth. "Don't make me decide between –" He broke off shaking his head. "No. Don't talk like that."

"You won't be in a condition to make the decision then, so you should decide ahead of time," she whispered, closing her eyes as a tiny tear seeped through her lashes. Kili watched it trace a sparkling trail down her temple, and his heart nearly broke.

"Stop assuming it will come to that," he whispered brokenly. "Why can't we have both?"

"Because Legolas told me she died."

"Who died?"

"The elf your uncle loved."

Kili sat in stunned silence until he realized that Thorin never had showed up.

_By night, Legolas packed his things, preparing for his journey away from Mirkwood. His banishment. He knew that one day the king's error would be discovered, and that not far from now, and he would be permitted to return. But that did not stop him from cringing at the thought of what would be done to Tauriel then, and the child, when the babe was not slender and fair-haired, but strong, and dark. A voice arrested him in his preparations._

_"What were you thinking?"_

_Legolas turned and beheld his father, framed in the doorway, his hair lank and unbraided, and his robe girt loosely about his gaunt form._

_"What do you mean?" Legolas decided to follow the safest route, having been tricked when younger into revealing information by just such assumptions. Wait until they stated it themselves, and then make what admittances one may. _

_"Tauriel does not carry your child. She carries the spawn of a dwarf within her belly."_

_"Even so." He inclined his head slightly, and returned to his preparations._

_"Why did you deceive me?"_

_"I never said as much. I simply allowed you to assume. It was for her protection. I do not wish harm to come to either Tauriel, or Kili, at your hand." _

_The king stood silent, looking worn and exhausted. At last, he managed, "You will no longer be required to go out upon Middle Earth. I will be pondering what should be done."  
>"May I suggest something, my lord?"<em>

_Thranduil sighed. "You will anyway."  
>"Let things take their natural course." <em>

_The king snorted. "Take their what?"_

_"Do not do anything for now. Wait and see what becomes of this. It may not work."_

_A sudden rememberance lit the elven king's eyes. "You know better. You do. Why did you not tel me this? What have you to do with Lord Elrond, and Thorin Oakenshield, and this sordid nonsense?"_

_"I wasn't aware I had to report every action of mine to you. And if I recall, you sent me to Rivendell yourself all those years ago."_

_"Not to encourage a relationship between a dwarf and an elf!"_

_"On the contrary. I discouraged it, in fact. I hated Thorin for what he did to my sister."_

_"Do not speak those words again. You have no sister. You never had."_

_Legolas remained silent. "Is that all?" He did not turn around, but heard when the king departed down the corridor, his footsteps ringing in the night. _

"Thorin – loved an elf?" Kili's face was awash in disbelief. "You are joking. My uncle has never loved in his entire life, let alone an elf. He hates them! You must know it is torture to be in their presence."

"The prince tells me otherwise," Tauriel said, sitting up, and testing her legs against the floor. "Don't try to prevent me, I want to move about a bit. I hate doing nothing," she murmured, rising and slowing walking about the chamber. Kili watched her closely.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Quite well, actually," she replied, fastening her curiass, and pulling on her boots. "I feel much better to be fully dressed."

"Fully armed, you mean," Kili teased. "But really. What does the prince know about my uncle?"

"It seems they knew each other, years ago, in Rivendell. And it was not on friendly terms."

Kili still wasn't understanding the connection, but he resolved to address himself to Thorin on the subject later.

"Where are you going?" he inquired, seeing that Tauriel seemed to be readying herself to go out.

"Aren't you coming?"

Kili shook his head. "For what?"

She deftly fastened the harness of her quiver onto her back, and, bending her bow over her knee, strung it with surety.

"We can stop by the armory first to get your arrows. Fetch your bow, and we can be off. Though I must warn you, I have close to 200 years of experience with this bow. "

Grinning, Kili got to his feet and tugged on his boots, eager for the challenge already.

_Thorin stood before the King, his nephew and heir by his side, and faced the scornful gaze of Thranduil and his blond son. No matter how much Fili had assured him that the prince of Mirkwood was a friend of Tauriel's, Thorin could not come to see him as a friend of his, or Kili's. He remembered too well the scathing words that had passed between them years ago among the falls of Imladris, and he was certain the elf harbored no good will toward him even now. It was not surprising, seeing he hated him just as much. It was an eternal mystery to him what kindness drove this son of Thranduil to helping them leave the house of Elrond even then, though he professed to hate what had occurred between Thorin and his half-sister, as even now, it was a mystery why he would want to help a young love-sick dwarf keep his foothold in a relationship with a warrior elf. _

_"It has come to my attention that a good deal of deception has been involved in this issue from the beginning." Thranduil's voice rang out among the carven pillars and was carried in distorted echoes down the halls. "The good relations of our kingdoms are placed in peril yet again, it would seem."_

_"If they are imperiled, it would not be the first time things were brought so by your hand." Thorin met the steely gaze of the elf with a strong will of his own. _

_"Elves, cavorting with dwarves..." Thraunduil turned toward his son. "This is what I am told."_

_"You lying, pointy-eared –" Fili began, advancing toward the elf, but Thorin gripped his arm. "Hold your peace," he growled. "This is not your dispute."_

_"It is," he vociferated. "My brother is my other half, and anything that concerns him concerns–"_

_"Listen to your king, dwarf." Legolas spoke, firmly, but without needless harshness. "It is true I tried to shield your brother from revilement and disgrace. It was not for his sake, but for Tauriel's. I did not betray you – the king discovered the truth on his own."_

_"From the lips of my valued ally," Thranduil sneered, giving Thorin a significant look. Fili stepped back as if struck._

_"Thorin... You – you told him?"_


	16. Chapter 16

The firm grip of the bow's wood in his fingers once again brought a sense of balance and stability back into Kili's world. This was something that, notwithstanding all other shifting circumstances in his life, still had not changed. The fitful breezes of the Mirkwood forest blew about them, and with a keen eye, he assessed the direction of the wind, gauging the potential interference it would have with his shots.

"What shall our target be?" Tauriel inquired coolly, selecting a shaft from her quiver and fitting it to the bowstring.

"Are we allowed to shoot the trees?" Kili asked, stabbing his short bolts into the soft turf at his feet, and looking up at her through his bangs. "I know that some elves hold them in high regard."

"Not here. In Lothlorien, perhaps, but here they do very well for a target. How about that one." She pointed to a twisting ash some 50 paces away. "Will your weapon shoot that distance?"

Kili scowled. "Twice, and more besides." Tauriel merely raised her eyebrows.

"I should like to see that."

Kili's bow was short, and angled as a sturdy recurve, the entire length of both limbs reaching only to the height of his waist when resting on the ground. The eleven bow Tauriel wielded, however, was slender and long, and swept in graceful curves away from the leathern-bound grip.

The bow arched in her hand, and an arrow was sent singing toward the target, driving it's lethal tip deep within the wood, the end of the shaft quivering in the breeze.

"A fair shot," Kili said, guarding the admiration in his tone.

"Better it if you can, dwarf." She smiled down at him, and stepped aside. Tugging one of his arrows from the earth and blowing the soil from where it adhered darkly to the jagged tip, Kili set the nock to the string and drew it to his ear, sighting down the thick shaft. A small gust of wind flurried through his hair and made him hold the shot for a brief moment, feeling his arm waver ever so slightly with disuse, and then he released it, the bowstring rolling easily from his toughened fingers and launching the arrow high into the sky.

He squinted as the arrow soared in a high arc before embedding itself side by side with the elven shaft.

"Not bad, though a curious method," she remarked.

"That's how I shoot into the wind," he replied. "Though it's a little indirect."

"What if an enemy were coming at you from behind and you hadn't time for such techniques?"

In answer, Kili spun on his heel and flung a shaft from his bow toward a tree behind them, the solid thud of it penetrating the bark resounding through the forest.

_"It had to be done," Thorin said, his voice vibrating deep within his chest. "Now hold your peace, and let the elf king spend his wrath."_

_"Wrath?" Thranduil's color rose. "There is not a word in the common tongue to describe the extent of my wrath at these proceedings! Your first mistake was to enter Mirkwood at the outset, and my first error was to send a company to save you!" _

_"To take us prisoner," Fili amended. "We were perfectly capable of saving ourselves."_

_"And you rewarded my kindness with escape and murder? May I remind you that ten of my guard were slain in the skirmish with the orcs at the gate?"_

_"We were unarmed, and not to blame," Thorin spoke out. "If the orcs slay your people –"_

_"Then, out of mercy, one is kept behind – nay, two, the inseparables," he sneered, regarding Fili with venomous scorn. "Our best medicine is applied to his hurt, without my knowledge, mind you, and when he is healed he proceeds to take advantage of the Captain of my Guard in a way which I cannot even begin to –"_

_"He did not take her against her will, that I swear by my dead father," Fili burst out. "Ask your son – he will tell you."  
>"I beheld them holding conversation at length even when the dwarves were held in the dungeons," Legolas admitted quietly. "It angered me then."<em>

_"And this is supposed to prove to me that she was violated willingly? The word of a dwarf, and the facts that they held conversation together?" Thranduil cast his eyes upwards. "Elbereth, what fools am I surrounded by?"_

_"Send for Kili and ask him. Better yet, send for them both." Thorin's proposition was followed with no response for a long moment. At last, Thranduil made eye contact with an idle guard standing in the doorway._

_"Do as he says," he commanded. _

"Did you hit him?" Tauriel inquired. The young dwarf just grinned. She tossed her head. "I admit, I didn't place much stock in your skills only from hearsay."

"Like I told you, the best of my kin." He stood up a little straighter. "But that wasn't anything. I've got a trick I could show you. It used to always impress my brother."

Kili could have sworn he heard her murmur, "He is easy to impress, then," but he could not be sure. Setting an arrow to his string, he launched it straight above him into the sky, the vanes twisting and ruffling in the wind. A split second afterward he sent a second arrow flying, much swifter, which collided into the shaft of the first, shattering it, and raining splinters of the wood down about their heads while the arrow itself clattered to the forest floor a few moments later.

Tauriel laughed. "Impressive, but why would you ever need to split one of your own arrows midflight?"

He shrugged. "Just amusing myself, I suppose."

"And wasting your arrows."

"Come now, I don't recall seeing you perform any great feats aside from hitting the target," Kili badgered. "Show me something that will restore you to the highest in my esteem." He bowed grandly.

"I saved your life by firing only shots that killed – is that not enough?"

"Not to the purpose."

"That is the only purpose I can think of."

His boyish laugh bounced among the trees. Just then, footsteps were heard hurriedly approaching from behind them. It was a guard, and he looked a bit disdainfully at them both.

"The king wishes to speak to you, Captain, and you as well, dwarf," he said. "The prince is already with him, but it seems the words he has for you are urgent."

"We come with the swiftness of the wind," Tauriel replied, as the guard nodded, turning, and facing his steps back toward the woodland halls. She strode the length of their shooting pitch in silence, bracing a booted foot against the tree as she removed her arrow from the twisted wood, seeing Kili's hand in her peripheral vision reach up to yank his from the tree as well.

"What do you think?" he said under his breath, stowing the shaft in his quiver, along with the other that lay upon the ground.

"This is likely to be unpleasant," she said at last, sliding the arrow among its fellows in its place on her back.

"Is it because of what we are doing together? Having a shooting contest?"

She shook her head. "The truth is known, and we will have to own up to our deeds."

"I am not ashamed." Kili's brown eyes glinted with feeling. "Love is nothing to hide."

Placing a cool hand gently on the top of his head, Tauriel regarded him with a smile tugging the corners of her mouth. "Don't do anything rash. I know how to manage the king."

"I'm not making any promises," the dwarf muttered, as they began to walk quickly back towards the halls. "If he accuses you of anything –"

"The prince takes our side, as does your brother, and your uncle."

"Thranduil won't listen to the word of dwarves."

"But he must listen to the word of his son, and of the Captain of the Guard."

Kili could only hope she was right.

_Tauriel and Kili entered the throne room, side by side. Thorin and Fili turned at their entry, and on the dais next to the elf king's great chair stood Legolas, his face a mask of unreadable thoughts. _

_"You sent for us, my lord?" Tauriel's voice, as she bowed, was steady, and unafraid. Kili drew from her boldness a thread of hope, though his heart lurched within his chest at the regal glower of Thranduil and the penetrating stares of his kin. His hand had sought and found hers as they walked, but just before entering the hall, she had pulled away, entering the room on her own, firm of step, and shameless of face._

_"You are aware, no doubt, of the reason for these summons." The king rose, his silver robes pooling about his feet, clenching his scepter with a thin pale hand. "Your shame is no longer hidden behind closed doors and beneath leather and cloth." His eyes seemed to bore into hers. "I do not need to tell you what an ire burns in my breast at these proceedings!" He punctuated his words with a blow of his scepter upon the floor. Recovering his breath, he descended and drew close to her, his breath upon her cheek. "Now tell me – was this your will, or your weakness?"_

_Holding her head high, Tauriel replied, "I do not understand, my lord. You seem to think that I intended to deceive you in this, or that I was overcome by the dwarf's advances. Neither are true statements."_

_"He did not force himself upon you?"_

_Legolas would not meet her eye. "No, my lord. It was an act perpetrated with the consent –" The king emitted an animal-like hiss, "- and love of both parties."_

_"Speak, dwarf," Thranduil spat. "What have you to say for your actions?"_

_Kili felt his legs tremble and he fought the urge to choke on the thin, tepid saliva which suddenly flooded his dry mouth. _

_"She saved my life." The statement rang with a simple truth, and in it's wake the young dwarf gathered his courage. "I could not help admiring her for this, even though our races are different to the point of hatred. During my time in prison, she was kind to me, and my admiration of her grew to the magnitude that it deserved the name love – passionate love." Fili met his brother's eyes and he drew encouragement from their shining depths. "She cannot be faulted for giving in at last to my persistence. I must have been a royal nuisance." He cast a glance at Tauriel, and she fought the urge to smile."But in the end, when I lay dying, and her beautiful form hovered over me, the skill in her hands healing me and the warmth of her heart calling to my numbed mind, I knew that she was shrouding her own love under the veil of decorum, draping it in the guise of maiden reticence. That made her all the more beautiful to me. She is not loose. So in this, she did not give herself willingly. But in the end, she did give in, and we loved as no other two people have in the history of Middle Earth, I am convinced. And nothing that you can say, nothing that you can do to either me, or her, can take that away from us." Kili finished breathlessly, and was shocked to see the glitter of tears in the eyes of his uncle. When he lowered his dark lashes to his cheeks in an effort to fight them back, the shaking of his breath caused one to fall upon his cheek and trace a shining trail into his beard. Kili looked up to see Thranduil staring straight ahead as if in a trance._

_"Leave," he muttered, waving a hand toward Legolas, who obediently descended the steps and strode toward the door, catching Tauriel's arm as he did so, and pulling her along with him._

_"No – wait..." she whispered, pulling away as the dwarves looked at each other in confusion._

_"I said, leave!" Thranduil shrieked, and like a flock of startled pigeons, they vacated the chamber. _


	17. Chapter 17

Tauriel retired directly to her chamber, hardly meeting Kili's eye. His bold stand before the king of the woodland halls had not been lost on her, this was the truth, but she was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by it all. The shifting of the child in her womb accompanied her movements as she prepared to go to bed.

Brushing a light touch over where the babe lay within her, she murmured idle things to it in Sindarin. It was growing strong already, and she ignored the stab of fear in her heart that she doubted her ability to carry this child safely until birth. Could it be that she and Kili had committed, not a miracle of love, but a terrible crime against this innocent one, calling it in to the world only to have its feeble change at life cut short through the weaknesses of an elf? She drove the thought from her heart with more ferocity than she had ever driven away spiders and orcs. The king was not always right.

Banishing Thranduil's cold gaze from her eyes and his cruel words from her heart, Tauriel focused her consciousness on the memory of Kili's smiling brown eyes, of his warm, strong hand. In these thoughts she found comfort as she resigned herself to the oblivion of sleep...

_The windswept wastes of the western felds were covered in a light mist as the darkness deepened from twilight to starlight. The distant cry of animals and the occasional hoot of a bird of prey were the only sounds that pierced the crisp cold night. Snow would be coming soon, the dwarf knew, and on the mountains it would fall thick and majestic. It was toward the mountains he would be facing his steps. _

_The elf that lay nearby stirred ever so slightly, drawing the cloak he had draped over her ever higher about her slender neck. If he allowed his gaze to linger on her one moment more, he knew he would see the shivers that wracked her wiry frame, softening bone so it felt as fragile as a green twig and hardening muscle so that it ached all the following day no matter how brightly the sun shone. He knew that if her dark eyes were to open and behold him staring upon her weakness, she would not be pleased. Ah, pride. Her pride gave her glory and beauty, but it also made her foolish. _

_Wordlessly laying down by her side, the dwarf turned the collar of his heavy coat upwards so that the ragged fur would warm his face, and watched the fitful flickering of a fire. They had not dared light a flame before this night, for fear of attracting unwanted attention, but now, it had become quite necessary. And besides, they were far enough from their point of departure where it mattered not._

_Unease still crept into the hearts of both at the nearness of the fortress of Dol Guldur. It was abandoned, most said, but there were rumors of it being the rendezvous for hordes of recreant orcs, seeking to cause trouble to any who wandered too near. _

_"Rouse me at first light," the elf maid had told him, her darkened skin shining burnished bronze in the light of the newly kindled blaze. "I do not care to rest so much as to fall into the hands of the enemy."_

_"It has been a long trek," the dwarf had replied, his voice weary and heavy with the need for sleep. "I would not begrudge you a few hours of daylight to slumber by."_

_Her disdain had been his only reward. "Perhaps our race does not tire as easily as yours." And yet, for all the proud words, at night they lay wrapped in each others arms, no longer passionately demonstrating their love, but blindly clinging to it's remembrance as a thread that bound them, delicately, but surely together against all the world could send their way. _

Kili watched as Tauriel's back vanished around a curve in the hallway. His heart beat quicker, his hand were hot as if he had been clapping most boisterously, and behind his eyes burned a heat like that of dragon fire, awed at his own boldness. Fili clasped him in a meaningful hug which Kili barely returned. "Well done," he murmured thickly, giving him a smile, and then turning to make his way to his own chamber.

Thorin stood in silence, his back pressed against the wall as if his legs suddenly lacked the will to hold him upright. He looked out of the tops of his eyes and met Kili's gaze.

"Is it true?" Kili asked in a quiet voice. "You once loved –"

"An elf," Thorin finished in a voice heavy with memory. "Yes, it is true."

There was a period of awkward silence before Thorin said gruffly, "You are not ashamed to own your feelings, that is for certain."

"Never have," Kili said with a slight smile.

"I know."

There was another long pause, before Thorin abrubtly stood and wrapped his nephew in a fierce embrace. Kili was stunned; his uncle never showed emotion, let alone to him. There were a few times that stood out in his memory in which Thorin Oakenshield had come forth from his hard shell, times of sorrow, duress, compassion, anguish, or relief. Once, even, out of sheer happiness. But this – this was too much. Kili fought the urge to sniffle as the pressure of Thorin's arms increased around his shoulders.

"Don't ever- become ashamed of love," Thorin whispered thickly, his mouth near Kili's ear. Kili managed to nod, his mouth opening in a silent gasp. _Never._ "Then you will be a greater dwarf than I was."

_It was the elf's sharp ears that first picked up the noise. Something, someone had been following them ever since their departure, but neither spoke of it, each choosing to trust the senses of the other to bring it to justice should whatever it was encroach upon the purposes of their journey. _

_It was the sound of muffled tread, and then silence. Once again, it came, mixed in the shadowy hisses of the dying fire which spit spirals of tender smoke upwards in the night, marking their location as clearly as a beacon. Sitting up once the clank of arms was unmistakeable, the elf threw back the cloak and reached for her long sword._

_The dwarf stirred as her form shifted in his arms and was at last no longer there. "What is it?" he murmured, his voice gruff with sleep, as he passed a hand over his face, down his beard, and clambered to his feet. "What did you hear?"_

_"Someone draws near this place." She stood tall above him, her form swollen with his child. "Lie down, I will investigate," he commanded none too gently, and gave her a firm push toward their rumpled bedding._

_"Don't be a fool –" she began, but suddenly the company was upon them, a pack of ill-intentioned orc, descending upon the defenseless two with wild screeches and muffled grunts. Unseen, no more than a stone's throw away, a pair of keen eyes watched the skirmishing from the cover of the brush, but acted not._

_Hacking fierce blows into the horde, the dwarf sought to protect the elf who scorned his efforts and continued to aim her own bladework at the most lethal-looking of the group. Several fell, but when an ill-parried cut from above crashed through the armor covering the dwarf's forearm, he fell to his knees and for a moment was unaware of the happenings about him. When he recovered, he felt his arms nearly pulled from their sockets by two orcs who hauled him to his feet and had him bound. His eyes searched wildly for the elf; at last he spotted her._

_Near the brushy overgrowth several paces from their camp he saw her thrown to the ground, emitting a cry of pain. The dwarf gnashed his teeth in rage and surged forward, straining aginst his captors._

_"Let her go!" he bellowed. "Let her alone!"_

_She did not lift her head as her arms were wrenched behind her and bound tightly, the harsh hiss of rope on rope driving itself deep into his ears even at this distance. She did not cry out again. The shadows divided the two companies, and they were carried opposite directions. Silently, the figure rose from the brush to follow the group bearing the elf, making his presence known only to her through a series of quiet calls. The orcs did not even notice._

_The dwarf, borne away from his love, shouted himself hoarse repeating her name into the ungrateful night, and at last when they halted some miles from the place, the sun already beginning to warm the edges of the horizon, he collapsed upon the cold ground, too stunned to even weep._

And then it was over. Thorin stepped back, fiercely dashing the water from his eyes, and clearing his throat, a loud sound in the silent corridor. Turning his back on the still overwhelmed Kili, Thorin thumped away into the shadows. The sound of a repressed sigh chased its way back to him on the swirl of night, and Kili smiled. Somehow he did not want to face the darkness of his chamber now.

Tauriel had retired without a word. Trusting that all would be well on the morrow, Kili headed in the direction of Fili's room, rapping on the closed door.

"What do you want?" came the welcoming greeting, and as Kili stuck his head within, he ducked to avoid the pillow aimed at his head.

"I come in peace," he said, laughing as he crossed the room and flung himself and the pillow onto the bed. Fili rolled over with a loud groan.

"Let me sleep," he mumbled, and Kili sat astride him, playfully pushing his brushy hair into his face, causing his brother to chortle and sit up, huffing and puffing.

"What do you want?" he repeated, grabbing him by the throat and reversing their positions. A resounding crack echoed through the dim room as Kili's pate smacked the footboard of the bed, and after a moment of silence, both erupted into laughter.

"Are you alright?" Fili managed at last.

"A little addled – if I lose my memory it's your fault!" Kili gasped.

"Why, the only things you'll forget are things you'll do again!" Fili fished a hand down the gap in his brother's tunic and gave his broad chest a smack. "Why aren't you with your elf?"

Kili grinned and pushed his brother's hands away from him, shaking his head and sobering a little. "I think she wanted to rest. She left rather quickly."  
>"That king is sure a nasty fellow," Fili admitted, tossing a pillow behind him and flopping back on top of it. "I don't blame her one bit."<p>

"She's bold."  
>"So are you."<p>

Kili's mouth dropped just a little. "Listen to this. Thorin actually embraced me in the corridor, and told me that he was proud of me for not forsaking our love. Can you believe that?"  
>Fili shook his head. "No. No, I can't."<p>

"Well, it's true," Kili retorted. "He said that I was a better dwarf than he."

"You're clearly addled, brother..." Fili furrowed his brow and sat up, feeling the back of Kili's head. "But there's no blood –"

Kili swatted him away. "I'm telling you, that's what he said. And –" he lowered his voice conspiritorially, "He just might have been a little emotional too."  
>"Well if that's true, then good for him. Let's not poke fun at it," Fili said, his eyes wide. "I always said he had a heart somewhere beneath that cold exterior."<p>

"Did you? I don't remember that," Kili said, narrowing his eyes. "Are you sure?"  
>Fili clicked his tongue. "Dear me, forgetting things already. I wonder if kingsfoil would –" But Kili jumped on him with a joyful shout and it was all he could do to not get shoved off the bed and on to the floor.<p> 


	18. Chapter 18

_Tauriel seated herself upon the bed and regarded both brothers with an enigmatic gaze. In Fili's presence, she felt repressed. Dwarves, she knew, however, were a block-headed bunch, and she would have to basically order him from the room before he would decide to give them some privacy. She elected to begin nevertheless, and was glad she did._

_"I just wanted to ask a question of you –either of you." She smiled briefly. "I had a dream which I do not understand."_

_"Fili told me that when I dreamed something it meant something else and he was right," Kili spoke up. Fili looked surprised._

_"I did? When?"_

_"When I told you of the dream of Tauriel marrying the prince, and the dwarf child running around."_

_"That was no great interpretation!" Fili rolled his eyes. "That's exactly what it looked like."_

_"You mean, you didn't know that?" Tauriel regarded Kili, amusement creeping into her gaze. "I thought that you would –"_

_"Don't both of you make me feel ignorant," Kili scowled playfully. "My mind was on other things."_

_Fili raised his eyebrows, but then beckoned for the elf to continue. Clearing her throat, she began slowly._

_"It was like watching someone else as myself. Or like I was not there at all, but a voyeuristic presence. I saw a dwarf and an elf on a journey together, and they were encamped somewhere barren and forbidding."_

_Kili listened attentively, while Fili seemed to be staring off in space. "What did the two look like?" Kili asked, with interest._

_"The dwarf was – short..." Tauriel smiled. "And broad. His hair and beard were near black and he had a thick coat on as well. The elf was tall, and dark, with hair that was straight and shining and her skin was a color I have never seen on skin before. It was the color of polished bronze, almost."_

_Fili sat up. "Was the dwarf's hair long, but his beard short? Young, but angry? Steel blue eyes?" _

_Tauriel nodded. She would never have expected dwarves to be the interpreters of dreams, but his next statement dumbfounded her. Of course._

_"Uncle." He stared at Kili. "Don't you see? It's Thorin."_

Legolas strode with a purposeful step toward the chambers of his father. The sight that there met him was a shock to his eyes and an offense to his ears. Everything was overturned, and the sounds of continued destruction emanated from the adjacent chamber.

"Father!" Legolas called aloud the name he had not been permitted to speak since his one-hundredth year, marking his maturity and the need to regard Thranduil as his king, not his parent. It had the desired effect.

Thranduil stormed into the room, his robe trailing open around his gilded shift, his hair wild and tangled like a berserker around his thin face.

"Are you mad?" the prince whispered, his brows working furiously. "What is the meaning of this?"

Thranduil did not speak, only stood trembling like a great tree in a windstorm, his eyes focused somewhere between his son's nose and chin, his gaze coated as with ice, and unseeing.

"Send them away," he managed at last, his voice a hoarse croak. "Send them all away."

"The dwarves?"

"And that _'ksh edainme –"_

"My lord!" Legolas snapped. "Your servants are before you."

Giving a scathing glance at the guards who cowered in the corner, they scurried from the room, and the King drew himself up to dignity once again.

"She has no place here. She is to be banished in disgrace."

"If she is to be sent away, let her be sent away with honor."

"Honor?" Thranduil scoffed, a painful choking sound. "For what?"

"For her good service to you for nearly 200 years. Before that she never showed fault or committed any crime."

"And do you think this a fault? A crime?" Thranduil stepped closed to his son, and Legolas met his eye steadily.

"Love is never a crime."

"What do you know of love?"

"That much at least. And I thank them both, for teaching me more of love than you ever did." Turning on his heel, Legolas strode from the room.

Alone, in his wrecked chamber, Thranduil ignored the servants who hurried in and began to silently tidy the results of his wrath. Covering his face, he permitted himself a shaking inward sigh, though outwardly he remained as motionless as a stone.

_Kili's eyes were wide. "What else?"_

_Tauriel groped for words. "The elf's clothing was strange, and loose. She was – with child..." She compressed her lips for a mere moment. "They seemed to love, and yet strangely resent each other. Their words were short and to the point, but their eyes were full of deep regard."_

_"Aule," muttered Fili. "Is that all?"_

_"What did they say?" Kili demanded. "You said their words were short – what did they say?" Tauriel shook her head._

_"I don't remember. They were attacked – by orcs –"_

_"And separated," Fili whispered. "Of course. And he never saw her again."_

_Tauriel nodded, her hair falling over her shoulder. "I don't know why I was shown these things."_

_"A foreshadowing of your future? They say that history has a way of –"_

_"No," Kili spoke up impetuously. "No, that is not why."_

_"What?" Fili looked surprised. "So they go on a journey, and – oh..." Realization washed over him._

_"What?" Tauriel's clear eyes searched for meaning._

_"She – she died." Fili's voice was strange, and silence followed this. _

_"I see," Tauriel said at last. _

_Kili's brooding was fit to rival Thorin's. "Why doesn't everyone stop predicting gloom and doom!" he exploded at last. "Doesn't anyone believe in hope in this place?"_

_Tauriel's eyes were alight. "You have answered your own enigma, master dwarf."_

_His gaze sought hers. "What – what do you mean?"_

_"This place." Her eyes filled with unbidden tears. "It is the bane of this love. I have lived here my entire life, but now my life is you. And you cannot stay."  
>"You cannot leave, where would you go?" Fili protested. "The dwarves would never accept you in our kingdom either."<em>

_Tauriel rose, crossing the room in swift strong steps, the night air through the open window gently pressing her robe about her, soft wrinkles and delicate furrows of material riding the swell of her form and gracing the object of her hope in reflected starlight. _

_"I know."_

_Footsteps crossed the room and stood beside her, a strong shoulder pressed into her side, and then Kili's arm was about her._

_"Will the king let us leave?"_

_She smiled at him. "Is he likely to let us stay?"_

_"What of your friend? Your home?" _

_She shook her head. "Where you are is my home. Legolas will always have a place in my heart, but he is not the master of my future. You are."_

_Kili's body felt as if it were on fire, his eyes glowed with an unnatural light, and his heart leapt within him. "All of Middle Earth is before us," he said grandly pointing out beyond the trees of Mirkwood to the shining mountains, and beyond. "Take your pick, my lady."_

_"Wherever the starlight shines." Her voice came on a breath of wind. "There we will walk together." _

The row of the guard was arrayed in woodland splendor, lining both sides of the narrow bridge which spanned the length of space from the edge of Mirkwood forest to the doors of the Woodland King's halls. A light breeze darted among them, stirring hems and swirling strands of hair out of place, leaving its fresh mark everywhere it swept. Gravely, two dwarves, a dark-haired and a blond one walked single file between the ranks, the king under the mountain glaring mistrustfully from the tops of his steely eyes, and the younger, his heir, regarding them with something of a sense of awe.

Behind them walked the prince of Mirkwood, clad in a silver cloak, his hair lank and loose about his shoulders. He walked slowly, and bestowed upon the guard a calm royal gaze from his light eyes. On his heels came the youngest dwarf, clad once again in the clothing of his people, in his hair braids of the royal house, and in his eyes a glint of excitement. The world was ahead.

The Captain of the Mirkwood Guard gave one final order to her company, and they subsided at ease as she strode between their ranks, pausing now and then to give one a quiet word, or to return the encouraging smile of the few who did not regard her with derision. Reaching the end of the bridge, she stood side by side with the dwarf upon whom she had bestowed her heart without a backward glance, and prepared to make her departure.

Suddenly there was a stirring in the crowd, and one final member of the procession swept down the bridge. He was tall and regal, crowned with autumn leaves and twisted twigs. His clothing was simple, and yet swept from his willowy form in the crisp lines of a jetting waterfall. Turning at the stir, Thorin Oakenshield beheld the king of the elves, and with great effort, forced his face into an impenetrable mask of unfeeling features. But his eyes were keen as he watched the elf king approach them.

Tauriel slowly knelt, the robe she wore pooling about the ground at her feet, and following her example, Kili and Fili did the same. Only Legolas and Thorin remained standing before Thranduil's royal gaze.

"Tauriel of the Woodland Realms," he spoke at last, his voice hollow of it's usual scorn. "Go in peace, and find what happiness you can upon Middle Earth."

Rising, she lifted her gaze to the king's, tears threatening to overflow her eyes. "Thank you, my king."

Without a word to the dwarves, Thranduil merely inclined his head, and turning, they faced their steps into the forest. Kili took Tauriel's hand in his, and once they were out of earshot, whispered, "Do you have a plan?"

The elf shook her head. "But I have a vision, and this one will guide us, whether or not it comes true."

"What is it?" he asked, his brown eyes looking up into hers. "Happiness at last?"

"It has happened before, and it will happen again; an elf and a dwarf journeying together."

"In peace?"

She shook her head. "It is but an earnest of a nobler victory, the grander triumph, that one day will come upon these lands. We may not be here to see it, but there is one that may." She dropped a hand to the child which grew within her, and did not look back, but knew that Legolas watched her with a keen eye, and would do so until they were lost from sight.

THE END


End file.
